0f  Ctf0. 


AN 

ORATION, 

BEFORE  THE 


f — ^ ^rxNTTTN 

V 

'I 


BY  GEORGE  W.  EATON,  D.D; 

Professor  of  Ecclesiastical  History  in  Madison  University^ 


gcljetiectabs; 

G.  Y.  VAN  DEBOGERT,  89  STATE-STREET. 
1850. 


/i 


ERRATA. 


Page-  8,  2(1  & 3d  lines  from  bottom,  for  “ are”  read  our ; for 
“ higher”  read  highest. 

12,  13th  line  from  bottom,  for  “ solicitudes”  read  solitudes. 
14,  3d  line  from  bottom,  for  “matured”  read  nurtured. 
16,  1st  Hue  at  top,  a comma  after  “upon.” 

21,  6th  line  from  quotation,  for  “ adopting”  read  adopt. 

22,  8th  line  from  bottom,  for  “ sociaUty”  read  sodality. 
24,  5th  line  from  top,  for  “ invests”  read  inverts. 

35,  7th  line  from  bottom,  for  “ the  throne”  read  n throne. 
38,  9th  line  from  bottom,  for  “ train” -read  trains. 

40,  4th  line  from  top,  for  “ mellenium”  read  millenium. 


ICm  0f  i\f(> 


AN 

ORATION, 


BEFORE  THE 


LITERARY  SOCIETIES 

OF 

UNION  COLLEGE. 

JULY  24,  1849. 

BY  GEORGE  W.  EATON,  D.D. 

Professor  of  Ecclesiastical  History  in  Madison  University. 


0 c 1)  e n e c t a b 2 ^ 

G.  Y.  VAN  DEBOGERT,  89  STATE-STREET. 


KIGGS,  PKnNTEK 


' 2,3  moc\uwht«*j^ 


Union  College,  Oct.  15,  1849. 

Kev.  George  W.  Eaton,  D.D. 

Dear  Sir — The  undersigned,  in  behalf  of  the  several  Literary  Societfes  of  this 
Institution,  would  tender  to  you  their  thanks  for  the  much  admired  Oration  deliv- 
ered before  them  at  their  late  anniversary ; and  request  the  same  for  publication. 
Hoping  you  may  grant  this  favor. 

We  are,  with  high  esteem. 

Truly  yours, 

LEMON  THOMSON,  ) 

HENRY  GARDINER,  v Pldlomathean  Society. 
LEWIS  E.  GURLEY,) 

H.  W.  FULTON, 

D.  AVATSON  AVATROUS, 

S.  V.  R.  COOPER, 

CHAS.  J.  SMITH,  ) 

AVAI.  E.  McCORAIICK,  > Delphian  Institute. 

JAS.  AY.  McCOY,  ) 


Adelphic  Society. 


Madison  University,  Nov.  24,  1849. 

Gentlemen — I have  delayed  to  reply  to  your  favor  of  the  15th  ultimo,  in  hope 
that  I should  have  been  able,  ere  this,  to  send  with  the  reply  the  manuscript  of  the 
Address  whose  publication  you  request;  but  pressing  engagements  have  disap- 
pointed this  hope,  and  I now  drop  this  note,  (that  I may  not  even  seem  to  be  inat- 
tentive to  a request  from  a source  for  which  I feel  the  most  unqualified  respect.) 
simply  to  inform  you,  that  so  soon  as  it  is  practicable  to  make  out  a fair  copy  of  the 
manuscript,  I will  place  it  at  your  disposal. 

With  great  respect, 

I am,  gentlemen, 

0 Your  ob’t.  serv’t. 

£ GEO.  AV.  EATON. 

fessrs.  Thomson,  Gardiner,  Gurley, 

Fulton,  Watrous,  Cooper, 

Smith,  McCormick,  McCoy, 

Committees  of  Lit.  Soc.  U.  C. 

S 

CP 

iL 

1/7 


/ 


/ 

/ 


/ • 


. 'F?j 


Ilf 

■V-  , 


!0  >nem€. 


i\  yA  •*'>  - 


i 


^*1 


k<k 


- «ii 

h • ; 


I 


»7:  - ' ''’■ 
s,  V>^>  • 


\ : 


>Vc: 


Ti  i#i  hH  - i;'''  yi  nxiU  ' - 


=f<r,  s > » ‘ '<j  f.i 


itt*»  -#  . 


- 

. -V  • * ’ 


*•  ■ V Afjitr  '• ' 


’ Hi-.' 


""  ' '■  ..la.:/- 

' ^■^.,  -y. 

'■  ■'  ■ 'ai:  •.■  • 

;:• , ■ V- 

. . ; -^.  a;' 

•i? ' 

'-'>  . - ' ■' *-  * / f 

. ; , liH  v 


v: 


v;,  ? ; -.4^^ 


& 


■ A:  - 
'Shk- 


,li 


ORATION. 


Gentlemen  of  the  Literary  Societies  : 

The  endowments  conferred  upon  man  by  his  Creator,  which 
give  him  his  chief  value  in  the  scale  of  being,  are  his  immortality 
and  his  capacity  of  perpetual  progress  towards  infinite  perfec- 
tion. The  true  value  of  any  thing,  animate  or  inanimate,  is 
estimated,  not  so  much  by  what  it  is,  at  the  present  moment,  as  by 
what  it  is  capable  of  becoming.  The  extravagant  price  paid  by  the 
enthusiastic  horticulturist  for  the  rare  seed  or  bulb,  he  pays,  not 
for  a little  mass  of  organized  matter,  but  for  the  future  growth 
which  he  foresees  will  be  the  beauty  and  pride  of  his  garden.  The 
little  spark  whose  sudden  flash  is  alike  its  beginning  and  its  end — 
what  more  insignificant?  But  endow  that  atom-spark  with  the 
attributes  of  endless  duration,  and  of  ever  widening  expansion  and 
of  ever  increasing  intensity,  and  you  make  it  at  once,  without  alter- 
ing its  substance  or  present  appearance,  a sublime  and  awful  thing ; 
for  with  these  attributes,  under  the  direction  of  an  Almighty  Provi- 
dence, it  may  become  a sun  in  God’s  universe,  pouring  from  its 
exhaustless  centre  a flood  of  brighter  effulgence  over  a wider  sys- 
tem of  worlds,  than  the  radiant  centre  even  of  our  own  system. 

Man,  with  his  curious  physical  mechanism,  his  wonderful  pow- 
ers of  intellect  and  his  spiritual  nature,  is  incomputably  a more 
valuable  being,  intrinsically,  than  any  mass  or  modification  of  mere 
matter ; but  were  he  to  be  annihilated  after  the  few  fitful  and  pain- 
ful sighs  of  his  present  existence,  what  would  that  existence  be  to 


0 

be  accounted  of,  more  tlian  tliat  of  a passing  meteor  whose  momen. 
tary  blaze  is  lost  in  the  “ blackness  of  darkness  for  ever  ?”  How 
pertinent  then  the  inquiry  addressed  to  his  Maker,  “What  is  man 
that  tliou^art  mindful  of  liim?”  But  when  we  recognize  him  as 
our  immortal  cmhryoriy  which  may  be  perpetually  unfolding  higher, 
and  higher,  and  still  higher  degrees  of  manifested  excellence  ; — 
when  we  follow  him  in  his  onward  career,  and  descry  him  climb- 
ing with  angels  to  the  loftiest  height  of  the  “ eternal  hills  of  God,” 
and  sweeping  with  his  clear  and  unclouded  vision  the  horizon  of 
the  universe,  we  instinctively  exclaim,  with  adoring  wonder, 
“ Thou  hast  made  him  a little  lower  than  the  angels,  and  crowned 
him  with  glory  and  honor.”  In  this  view,  the  meanest  of  the  race 
assumes  an  importance  and  a grandeur  beyond  all  finite  compre- 
hension. 

That  such  is  the  true  nature  of  man  ; — that  God  has  made  him 
an  immortal  and  a progressive  being,  needs  no  argument  in  this 
place  and  before  this  assembly.  This  is  the  house  of  God,  and  this 
kS  a Christian  assembly,  whose  minds  have  been  illumined  by  the 
light,  and  instructed  in  the  doctrines  of  a dispensation  which  has 
pre-eminently  “ brought  immortal  life  to  light,”  and  disclosed  a 
perfection,  as  a goal  to  be  aimed  at,  which  will  require  eternal  ages 
in  approximating.  But  without  this  Heavenly  light,  the  natural 
proofs  furnished  by  the  very  principles  and  laws  of  his  being, 
bring  conviction  to  a thoughtful  mind,  that  man  is  distined  to  live 
for  ever,  and  has  capacities  to  accomplish  an  amazing  destiny. — 
Why  does  Hope,  whose  peculiar  domain  is  the  future,  “spring 
eternal  in  the  human  breast  ?”  Why  are  the  soul’s  faculties  more 
deeply  stirred  by  the  thought  that  it  shall  live  hereafter,  than  by  all 
the  recollections  of  the  past  or  the  scenes  of  the  present  ? Why 
recoils  it  from  the  abyss  of  annihilation  with  scarcely  less  horror 
than  from  the  abyss  of  eternal  woe  ? Who  is  content  to  be  anni- 
hilated, except  him  whose  ripened  crimes  have  awakened  “ a fear- 
ful looking  for  of  judgment,”  and  an  eternity  of  shame  and  con- 
tempt beyond  that  tremendous  ordeal  ? He  chooses  between  two 
evils,  and  scarcely  knows  which  to  choose.  The  language  ascrib- 


7 

ed  by  the  poet  to  Belial,  may  be  accepted  as  the  voice  of  human 
nature : 

‘‘  Wtio  would  lose 

Though  full  of  pain,  this  intellectual  being, 

Those  thoughts  that  wander  through  eternity, 

To  perish,  rather  swallowed  up  and  lost  * 

In  the  wide  womb  of  uncreated  night, 

Devoid  of  sense  and  motion  ?” 

And  further,  why  are  we  so  made  as  to  conceive  of  a perfection, 
and  aspire  after  it  imeasurably  beyond  any  thing  of  present  reali- 
zation ? Why,  oppressed  with  the  imperfections  of  our  best  achieve- 
ments and  most  precious  treasures,  are  we  incessantly  sighing  after 
the  “ more  perfect  ?”  Why,  in  short,  does  the  “ aliquid  hmnensum 
infinitumquey’  mysteriously  but  most  palpably  affect  and  draw  up- 
wards the  soul,  even  as  the  influence  of  the  far-off  queen  of  night 
heaves  the  bosom  of  the  ocean  ? These  intimations,  coming  up  from 
the  depths  of  the  soul’s  being,  as  clearly  indicate  a perpetuated  life, 
and  a coming  glory  to  be  revealed,  as  the  crimson  flush  of  the 
orient  does  the  approach  of  the  “ powerful  king  of  day,”  long  be- 
fore his  visible  front  flames  in  the  eastern  horizon. 

These  general  remarks  on  the  nature  and  destination  of  man, 
are  deemed  appropriately  introductory  to  a few  suggestions  as  to 
the  true  aim  of  life^  and  the  means  by  which  it  may  be  best  sub- 
served. 

There  is  probably  no  one  in  the  least  given  to  seriousness,  who 
has  not  frequently  inquired  with  himself, — ‘What  is  the  end  of  my 
existence,  and  whither  am  I tending  V And  without  doubt  an  habit- 
ual recognition  and  consciousness  of  the  two  great  facts  in  our 
nature  just  stated,  namely,  our  immortality,  and  the  progressive 
nature  of  our  capacities,  are  essential  elements  in  any  proper  con- 
ception of  the  right  answer  to  this  solemn  and  important  inquiry  ; 
and  I beg  you,  gentlemen,  to  take  along  with  you  these  elements 
as  you  follow  me  in  the  train  of  reflection  which  I shall  pursue. 

A thorough  discussion  of  the  theme  chosen  cannot  be  reasonably 
expected  in  the  space  allotted  to  the  present  discourse.  I shall 
deem  myself  happily  successful  in  my  effort,  if  my  remarks  shall 
prove  suggestive,  merely,  of  profitable  and  elevating  meditations  in 


8 

the  minds  of  those  whom  1 have  tiie  honor  to  address.  And  here 
permit  me  to  premise,  that  this  discourse  has  been  prepared  with 
special  reference  to  those  who  have  honored  me  with  an  invitation 
to  speak  to  them  on  this  occasion.  I have  not  aspired  to  entertain 
and  instruct  my  coevals,  much  less  my  superiors  in  age.  But  I 
have  lived  to  little  purpose,  if,  during  the  period  since  I received 
the  parting  benediction  of  my  venerable  Alma  Mater,  and  of  that 
still  more  venerable  man,  who  has  been  her  crowning  glory  for 
nearly  half  a century,  and  veneration  and  love  of  whom  have  been 
among  the  most  cherished  emotions  of  my  life,  I have  gathered  no 
lessons  of  experience  and  of  practical  wisdom,  which  may  not  sug- 
gest some  useful  hints  to  those  of  whom  I am  thus  far  in  advance 
in  the  race  of  life.  Waiving  all  attempts,  therefore,  at  the  discus- 
sion of  questions  of  high  science,  or  of  profound  philosophy,  I shall 
come  home  at  once  to  your  “ business  and  bosoms,’’  and  run  the 
risk  of  being  regarded  as  common-place  by  a portion  of  my  audi- 
tory, that  I may  utter  words  of  monition  and  encouragement  to  the 
interesting  class  of  young  men  for  whose  benefit,  on  this  occasion, 
I feel  myself  especially  responsible. 

I ask,  then,  the  eminently  practical  question, — What  is  the  True 
Aim  of  Man’s  Life  ? Religiously,  this  question  admits  of  a brief 
and  comprehensive  answer.  It  is,  intelligently  and  willingly  to 
serve,  glorify,  and  enjoy  his  Creator.  But  this  general  answer, 
though  comprehending  the  whole  range  of  man’s  duties,  and  every 
object  claiming  his  serious  regards,  does  not,  it  is  feared,  convey  a 
very  definite  meaning  to  the  great  majority  of  minds ; and  for  the 
special  purposes  of  this  discourse,  we  propose  a somewhat  different 
answer,  though  of  course  involving  a subordinate  and  subsidiary 
element  of  the  higher  and  more  comprehensive  formula.  We  shall 
take  our  course  mainly  upon  the  earth  and  within  the  bounds  of 
time,  and  only  occasionally  glance  towards  the  region  beyond 
whose  dread  realities  are  objects  of  faith  and  not  of  sense.  All  we 
say,  however,  will  lose  its  higher  significancy,  if  not  regarded  in 
its  relation  to  an  ultimate  destiny. 

We  would  then  define  the  proper  aim  of  man’s  life  to  be,  the 


9 

progressive  improvement  and  steady  advancement  along  the  never' 
ending  line  of  ascending  excellence,  of  himself  and  of  his  race. 
The  gist  of  this  definition  is  not  in  the  words  “ improvement”  and 
advancement”  alone.  The  characteristic  elements  of  the  idea 
designed  to  be  expressed  and  illustrated,  are  an  improvement  ever 
going  on,  and  an  advancement  nearer  and  nearer  to  a condition  of 
perfection  : and  the  propriety  and  importance  of  making  this  pro- 
gress a living,  an  ever-active  motive  to  the  soul.  The  aim  is, 
then,  two-fold,  and  we  shall  proceed  to  consider  separately  its  two 
aspects. 

Every  responsible  individual  coming  upon  the  stage  of  human 
action,  along  with  the  capacities  and  opportunities  given  him  by 
his  beneficent  Creator,  receives  the  special  injunction — ‘Improve 
these  talents,  accumulate,  grow,  enlarge,  move  onwards  and  up- 
wards.’ It  is,  therefore,  both  his  duty  and  his  privilege  to  be  con- 
stantly improving  his  nature  and  condition,  and  rising  towards  the 
ultimate  perfection  of  his  being. 

This  law  of  improvement  and  progress  belongs  to  every  depart- 
ment of  his  composite  nature  ; though  in  respect  to  the  material 
part,  it  is  soon  overcome  by  a stronger  law  which  controls  all  mo- 
difications of  matter,  namely,  the  law  of  decay  and  dissolution. 

There  is,  notwithstanding,  a degree  of  bodily  perfection  to  be 
attained  not  wholly  unworthy  to  be  the  object  of  special  effort. 
Physiologists  tell  us  that  our  corporeal  natures  are  susceptible  of 
almost  inconceivable  ameliorations  ; that  were  the  laws  of  physical 
life,  and  health,  and  development,  well  understood  and  obeyed, 
we  might  secure — not,  indeed,  an  earthly  immortality — for  that 
were  a reversal  of  the  irresistible  fiat  of  the  omnipotent  Creator, 
“ Dust  thou  art  and  to  dust  shalt  thou  return,” — but  a distant 
postponement  of  the  mortal  hour  in  a condition  of  soundness  and 
strength,  and  despatch,  and  joyous  elasticity,  with  a power  of 
resistance  to  the  enfeebling,  morbific  and  death-charged  elements 
within  and  without  us,  and  a permanence  of  youthful  freshness,  of 
which  we  have  little  conception  in  our  present  state  of  infirmity. 
We  see  sometimes  an  imperfect  illustration  of  such  a condition,  in 

2 


10 

what  we  call  a green  old  age,  in  which  years  liave  brought  no 
dimness  to  the  eye,  and  no  abatement  to  the  natural  force.  And  a 
goodly  sight  it  is,  to  see  the  elastic  spring  of  youth  and  the  com- 
pact energy  of  manhood,  surmounted  by  the  hoary  head.  We 
are  now  so  encompassed  with  physical  infirmities,  and  they  do 
prove  such  formidable  obstructions  to  the  prompt  and  full  accom- 
plishment of  our  mental  and  moral  purposes,  that,  if  the  law  of  im- 
provement holds  here ; if  a comparative  physical  perfection  can 
be  realized,  then  a specific  aim  at  such  a realization  comes  within 
the  scope  cf  our  subject. 

Whose  body  does  not  need  to  be  improved  ? Of  whom  can  it 
be  said,  ‘ he  is  well;’’  who  of  us  has  e.xperienced  the  exquisite  sen- 
sations of  perfect  health  ; when  all  the  tissues  of  the  mortal  frame 
perfectly  discharged  their  functions,  and  the  blood  danced  with 
exulting  gladness  through  the  veins,  and  thrilled  every  nerve  with 
undefinable  pleasure?  Who  feeds  upon  the  bounties  of  a benefi- 
cent Providence  with  a keen,  unsophisticated  relish,  and  receives 
no  intimation  of  the  curious  processes  by  which  they  are  wrought 
into  the  elements  of  nourishment  and  life,  except  an  all-diffused, 
satisfied  and  complacent  feeling,  and  who  would  never  know  that  he 
had  a stomach,  liver  or  lungs,  or  any  viscera  at  all,  unless  inform- 
ed so  by  science  ? Who  has  ever  attained  to  the  last  desirable 
degree  of  development,  vigor,  facility  and  promptitude  of  execution, 
which  prepares  the  body  to  be  the  suitable  servitor  of  the  ethereal 
mind  ? On  the  other  hand,  we  are  dyspeptic,  and  queasy,  and 
consumptive,  and  rheumatic,  and  gouty,  and  constantly  annoyed 
by  various  other  “ ills  which  flesh  is  heir  to,”  in  consequence  of  a 
disregard  of  the  laws  which  govern  animal  life  and  health.  The 
point  and  importance  of  these  remarks  are  seen  in  the  relation  of 
the  body  to  the  mind.  The  body  is  not  only  the  tenement  of  the 
mind,  but  the  medium  of  its  manifestation — the  instrument,  or 
rather  the  complicated  machinery  which  it  uses  to  accomplish  its 
various  purposes  while  it  tabernacles  in  flesh.  For  the  sake, 
then,  of  the  higher  or  principal  part,  we  should  take  care  of  and 
improve,  as  best  we  may,  the  lower  and  the  subservient.  But  our 


11 

principal  regard  must  be  paid  to  that  which  is  principal  in  our  na- 
ture— the  spiritual  and  immortal  part.  And  here  the  law  of  im- 
provemement  and  expansion  has  no  exceptions  ; but  is  designed  to 
be  perpetually  operative.  The  immortality  of  the  intellectual  and 
moral  powers  secures  their  eternal  progress  in  knowledge  and 
virtue,  when  restored  through  the  efficacy  of  redeeming  grace,  to 
pristine  soundness  and  purity.  They  will  never  reach  a state, 
when,  arrested  in  this  progress,  they  shall  be  crystalized  into  a sta- 
tionary and  immobile  perfection  ; but  “ vital  in  every  part,”  their 
renascent  and  ever-springing  energies  and  their  immortal  and 
ever-blooming  youth  guarantee  a never-ceasing  growth  and  ex- 
pansion. 

It  is,  gentlemen,  allow  me  to  repeat  the  thought,  your  high  pre- 
rogative, as  intellectual  and  moral  beings,  to  be  ‘‘  ever  going  on 
to  perfection”  Among  the  most  distinct  and  vivid  recollections  of 
my  undergrad uateship,  is  the  utterance,  in  the  comprehensive  and 
impressive  petitions  offered  up  at  Evening  Chapel,  for  the  ‘‘  assem- 
blage of  young  men,  that  they  might  be  enabled  to  make  the  most 
of  their  intellectual  and  moral  being.”  I formed  then  some  im- 
perfect conception  of  the  import  of  this  utterance,  but  it  has  been 
expanding  and  gathering  vividness  ever  since,  and  I never  felt 
more  profoundly  than  I do  to  night,  the  utter  inadequacy  of  my 
conception  to  what  must  be  its  true  import. 

What  shall  any  one  of  us  be  when  the  most  has  been  made  of 
his  intellectual  and  moral  being  ? When  all  the  powers  and  sus- 
ceptibilities of  his  soul  shall  have  reached  a condition  of  perfect 
soundness,  and  vigor,  and  sensibility,  and  be  moved  by  appropriate 
and  adequate  motives  to-  legitimate  and  fully  expanded  action,  in 
the  direction  of  their  proper  ends ; and  so  by  a harmonious  de- 
velopment and  progress  of  the  whole,  marching  steadily  on  to  an 
inconceivably  grand  destiny. 

There  is  a degree  of  intellectual  perfection  within  our  reach,  in 
comparison  with  which  all  our  present  attainments,  in  the  aggre- 
gate, are  but  as  the  sprouting  acorn  to  the  majestic  oak.  We  may 
form  some  idea  of  this  perfection,  by  attentively  considering  the 


12 

functions  of  vvliat  are  commonly  called  the  intellectual  powers. 
Tlie  office  of  the  perceptive  power  through  the  senses,  is  to  make 
the  intellect  acquainted  with  external  objects.  VVe  may  suppose, 
this  power  so  improved  as  to  make  the  intellect  a perfoct  mirror  of 
the  wliole  of  God’s  external  creation,  which  comes  within  the  range 
of  its  sensual  organs.  All  outward  things,  once  sensibly  recog- 
nized, would  be  transferred  and  appropriated  to  it,  as  an  inalienable 
part  of  its  possessions.  The  eye  \vould  catch  and  pencil  in  unef- 
faceable  lines  upon  the  intellectual  tablet,  every  object  and  every 
shade  of  light  wdiich  diversifies  and  beautifies  the  enchanting  land- 
.scape.  The  ear  would  faithfully  transmit  to  the  seat  of  sensation, 
to  ring  and  thrill  for  ever  there,  every  tone  in  the  wilderness  of 
sweet  sounds,  which  nature’s  harmonious  voices  are  ceaselessly 
pouring  forth.  And  so  in  their  mode,  of  the  other  senses.  ‘ To 
external  things  the  organs  of  the  mind’  being  thus  attuned,  ‘ the 
glad  impulse  of  congenial  powers 

“ Thrills  through  the  intellertual  frame 
From  nerve  to  nerve;  all  naked  and  alive 
I’hey  catch  the  spreading  rays;  till  now  the  soul 
At  length  discloses  every  tuneful  spring, 

To  that  harmonious  movement  from  witliout 
Responsive.’^ 

And  then  the  conceptive  power  improved  in  like  manner,  would 
enable  the  intellect,  in  its  deepest  solicitudes,  to  evoke  at  will  into 
clear  and  distinct  viewq  in  all  their  original  life  and  freshness,  the 
treasured  images  of  external  things  ; nay,  to  impart  to  these  images 
a distictness  and  vividness,  and  to  give  to  combinations  of  them,  a 
unity,  beauty  and  power  beyond  the  effect  of  the  original  impres- 
sions themselves.  The  intellect  would  thus  become  quite  indepen- 
dent of  the  external  world  for  the  materials  of  its  thought  and 
enjoyment,  and  could  project  outwardly  from  itself  over  the  most 
barren  and  cheerless  desert,  smiling  scenes  of  moving  life  and 
ravishing  beauty. 

We  can  easily  understand  how  the  memory  may  be  so  improved 
as  to  make  the  intellect  capacious  and  retentive  of  all  its  past  ac- 
quisitions and  experiences,  and  ready  and  prompt  to  avail  itself  of 


13 

these  hoarded  treasures,  at  a moment’s  warning,  for  any  emergency 
for  which  they  may  be  needed. 

And  so  of  the  imagination,  the  wondrous  creative  power  of  the 
intellect,  which,  moving  its  magic  wand  over  the  world  of  its  con- 
ceptions, bids  new  scenes  of  more  awful  sublimity  and  intense 
beauty,  and  clearer  radiance  and  more  picturesque  variety  pass, 
in  endless  succession,  before  its  kindling  and  enraptured  gaze  ; — 
a power  which,  in  a high  state  of  perfection,  seems  almost  unlimit- 
ed in  its  range,  and  exhaustless  in  its  creative  energies  ; which, 
not  content  with  the  dominion  of  earth,  and  this  diurnal  scene,  in- 
vades heaven  and  the  ‘‘deep  tract  of  hell.”  Contemplate  the  won- 
ders of  this  power,  as  it  existed  in  the  mind  of  the  author  of  Para- 
dise Lost : 

“ Who  rode  sublime 

Upon  the  seraph- wings  of  ecstacy, 

The  secrets  of  the  abyss  to  spy. 

He  pass’d  the  flaming  bounds  of  space  and  time  : 

The  living  throne,  the  sapphire-blaze, 

Where  angels  tremble,  while  they  gaze  ! 

He  saw  ; but,  blasted  with  excess  of  light, 

Clos’d  his  eyes  in  endless  night.” 

And  what  shall  we  say  of  reason,  the  regal  power  of  the  intel- 
lect ? Who  can  measure  its  prodigious  powers  when  nurtured  up 
to  high  perfection  ? It  can  extend  its  survey  over  all  the  fields  of 
knowledge,  and  comprehend  all  the  elements  and  combinations  of 
all  the  sciences  ; can  perceive  and  mark  their  connexions,  and 
trace  them  up  to  a sublime  unity  in  the  infinite  intelligence  that 
pervades,  animates  and  governs  all.  All  truths,  with  their  infinite 
relations,  which  can  be  grasped  by  created  intelligences,  it  can  ap- 
prehend by  direct  intuition,  or  by  an  easy  and  uninterrupted  march 
of  ratiocination  from  premises  to  conclusions.  It  can  drive  its 
analysis  right  through  the  most  complicated,  intricate  and  laby- 
rinthine problems,  and  lay  their  ultimate  elements  open  to  the  clear 
light  of  day  ; and  then  with  the  same  ease  re-combine  these  elements 
into  their  original  wholes.  It  can  pierce  through  the  thickest  and 
most  ingenious  disguises  of  error,  and  scatter  its  fallacies  and  so- 
phistries like  mists  before  the  beams  of  morning.  In  short,  all 
realities,  in  their  true  relations,  it  sees  as  they  are,  and  can  ab- 


14 

stract,  analyse,  compare,  judge,  ratiocinate  and  demonstrate,  witli 
playful  ease  and  unerring  precision. 

But  there  is  still  a higher  perfection  than  that  of  the  intellect. 
The  moral  nature  is  the  seat  of  tlie  Divine  Image  in  man,  and  in 
perfection,  as  an  unsoiled  mirror,  gives  back  this  image  with  over- 
powering effulgence.  What  are  the  elements  of  this  perfection  ? 
An  unclouded  sense  of  right  and  of  obligation  ; a sincere  love  of 
truth,  justice,  purity  and  goodness,  and  a corresponding  hatred  of 
their  opposites ; sensibilities  all  alive  to  the  peerless  beauties  of 
virtue  and  moral  order;  affections  and  sympathies  all  pure  and 
healthful,  and  spontaneously  and  gladly  flowing  out  to  their  ap- 
propriate objects ; an  integrity  which  no  temptation  has  power  to 
draw  from  the  line  of  perfect  rectitude,  but  blended  with  a candor 
and  magnanimity  which  divests  it  of  all  repulsive  sternness. 

Now  combine  all  these  elements  of  intellectual  and  moral  per- 
fection in  their  just  proportions  and  subordination  in  one  single 
individual,  actuated  and  controlled  in  their  exercise  by  the  voli- 
tions of  a will  in  perfect  union  with  the  will  of  the  great  Supreme, 
and  give  him  a fitting  organization,  which  shall  circumscribe, 
individualize  and  relieve  him  amid  God’s  creation.  Contemplate 
him  ! Is  he  not  a glorious  being,  of  whom  we  may  say,  not  pro- 
fanely, that  on  him  “ every  god  hath  set  his  seal  to  give  the  world 
the  assurance  of  a man but  that  on  him  the  eternal  God  hath 
placed  His  signet,  and  challenged  men  and  devils  to  behold  and 
“ consider  his  servant,  the  upright  and  perfect  man  !”  The  perfec- 
tion of  human  character  consists  not  in  the  mere  aggregation  of 
excellent  qualities,  but  in  a living  union  which  combines  and 
blends  them  in  just  proportions,  and  admirably  adjusts  and  equili- 
brates contrasted  qualities ; and  the  general  effect  is  produced  by 
the  breadth  and  fulness,  and  the  symmetrical  proportions  and  im- 
pressive grandeur  of  the  whole.  What  a sublime  spectacle  will 
man  exhibit  when  all  the  wonderful  powers  of  his  intellect  are 
brought  out  and  matured  up  to  the  full  vigor  of  their  immortal  na- 
ture, and  exercised  in  grappling  with  the  great  truths  evolved  from 
the  unfathomable  depths  of  the  eternal  mind.  And  sublimer  still, 


15 

when  all  the  emotions  and  sympathies  of  his  moral  nature  are  res- 
ponsive to  the  influences  of  heaven,  and  in  sweet  accord  with  the 
infinite  heart  of  his  Creator.  ’ 

Now,  gentlemen,  though  this  degree  of  individual  perfection 
may  not  be  within  the  scope  of  your  actual  attainment  in  the  pre- 
sent life,  it  is  not  the  less  suitable  to  be  the  glowing  ideal  of  your 
conceptions  and  the  cynosure  of  your  aspirations ; for  high  as  it  is 
you  may  indefinitely  approximate  it,  and  if  faithful  to  yourselves 
your  approach  will  be  constant.  You  are  familiar  with  the  some- 
what trite,  but  ever  grand  and  impressive  figure  of  the  eagle  fixing 
his  flashing  eye  upon  the  sun,  and  rising  towards  it  as  the  goal  of 
its  upward  flight.  The  imperial  bird  never  can  reach  his  flaming 
goal,  but  he  mounts  the  higher  because  its  full-orbed  image  blazes 
in  his  eye.  This  exalted  standard  fixed  in  your  minds,  is  one  of 
the  necessary  conditions  of  your  steady  progress  along  the  line  of 
ascending  excellence,  of  which  we  have  spoken.  We  must  have, 
as  our  grand  and  ultimate  aim,  an  object  in  some  sort  commensu- 
rate with  our  powers,  or  they  will  not  be  drawn  forth  in  the  strength 
and  majesty  of  their  real  capability.  The  law  of  correspondence 
is  universal  in  the  constitution  of  things.  There  is  every  where 
a conformity  of  destiny  of  character,  of  result  to  agency,  an  adap- 
tion of  means  to  ends,  and  an  adjustment  of  forces  to  the  powers 
of  resistance.  He  who  should  direct  the  whole  force  of  his  immor- , 
tal  capacities  to  the  achievement  of  some  temporary  and  trivial 
object,  would  act  more  irrationally  and  contrary  to  the  nature  of 
things,  than  the  engineer  who  should  apply  the  most  powerful 
locomotive  to  the  propulsion  of  a baby’s  cart. 

Another  necessary  condition  of  all  real  progress  is  strenuous  and 
continuous  self -effort,  directed  specifically  to  the  attainment  of  the 
great  end  in  view.  The  forces  which  move  us  onward  are  within, 
not  without  us;  they  are  generated  by  ourselves.  You  cannot, 
gentlemen,  be  too  deeply  impressed,  in  the  early  part  of  your  ca- 
reer, with  this  necessity.  There  is  no  succedaneum  for  the  nisus 
of  our  own  faculties  in  the  work  of  self-improvement.  All  devel- 
opment and  growth  in  mind  as  well  as  in  nature,  is  from  a living 


IG 

energy  which  acts  from  a centre  outwardly,  and  seizes  upon  sub- 
ordinates and  makes  subservient  extraneous  influences.  All  ad- 
vantages, opportunities  and  facilities  are  wasted  upon  us,  if  this 
condition  be  disregarded.  The  longer  I live  and  have  the  training 
of  youthful  minds,  the  more  deeply  do  I feel  that  our  young  men 
need  “ line  upon  line  and  precept  upon  precept”  on  this  subject. 
When  I look  abroad  on  human  society,  and  mark  how  few  are  the 
minds,  even  among  the  professedly  educated  class,  evincing  origi- 
nal force  and  spontaniety ; how  few  do  the  thinking  and  planning 
for  the  whole,  and  can  in  any  sense  be  regarded  as  self-sustained 
centres  of  living  power,  (while  every  one  ought  to  be  such,)  I feel 
ashamed  of  my  species,  and  cannot  but  deplore  the  sad  waste  of 
mind  which  might  be  worked  up  into  glorious  forms  of  matchless 
power  and  graceful  beauty.  Where  in  creation  is  there  any  phe- 
nominal  development  and  impressive  manifestation,  except  as  the 
result  of  spontaneous,  active  energy,  concealed  and  silent  often,  but 
not  the  less  potent  on  that  account?  How  much  of  this  energy  may 
be  detected  in  the  development  and  growth  of  a single  plant ! It 
is  said  that  a potatoe  sprout  has  been  known  to  lift  a rock  that 
pressed  upon  it.  All  the  forms  of  grandeur  and  grace,  which 
variegate  the  pleasing  landscape,  have  been  elaborated  by  the  silent 
operations  of  nature’s  living  energies,  and  can  we  expect  any  gran- 
deur, and  grace,  and  might  in  mind,  by  any  other  law  ? No,  a 
higher  law,  a higher  necessity  obtains  here ; and  this  effort  on  the 
part  of  man  is  made  the  more  necessary  by  the  fact,  that  we  have 
to  meet  and  overcome  the  most  powerful  antagonist  forces.  Man  is 
not  now  as  he  originally  came  from  the  hand  of  his  Creator.  Ef- 
fort was  necessary  then  to  mature  and  perfect  his  embryo  powers, 
when  his  aspirations  were  all  upward  to  his  God,  and  every  thing 
favored  his  onward  progress  in  the  eternal  march  of  his  destiny. 
But  alas ! now  there  is  in  our  natures  a tendency  downwards  as 
well  as  aspirations  upwards.  We  should  commit  a fatal  error  in 
any  view  of  human  nature,  if  we  should  leave  out  the  considera- 
tion of  its  present  humiliations  and  disparagements.  We  cannot 
accept  the  doctrine  of  man’s  natural  goodness  as  an  article  of 


17  - 

our  creed.  We  are  sick  ad  nauseam,  of  a certain  kind  of  senti- 
mental optimism,  which  is  ever  prating  of  man’s  natural  dignity 
and  purity,  and  angelic  kindredship.  Our  own  experience  com- 
pels us  to  receive  in  all  its  literality  the  declaration  of  Holy  Writ, 
that  he  “ was  conceived  in  sin  and  brought  forth  in  iniquity.”  To 
vindicate  the  true  dignity  of  man,  we  hold  it  not  at  all  necessary  to 
maintain,  that  he  is  an  ‘‘  infant  seraph  with  embryo  wings  protrud- 
ing from  his  shoulders,”  and  only  waiting  for  their  expansion  to 
rise  and  soar  away  to  his  pure  and  bright  home  in  Heaven.  It  is 
enough  that  we  can  distinctly  recognize,  amid  the  fearful  wreck 
he  now  presents,  the  principle  of  an  endless  life,  and  to  be  assured 
by  a voice  from  Heaven  that  the  scathed  and  blackened  fragments, 
still  grand  and  awful  in  their  ruin,  may  be  brought  together  and 
moulded,  in  the  exquisite  language  of  the  poet,  into  an  “ immortal 
feature  of  loveliness  and  perfection.”  Man,  as  he  now  is,  exhibits 
an  astonishing  phenomenon.  He  stands  forth,  amid  the  works  of 
God,  the  anomaly  of  creation,  the  paradox  of  the  universe.  In  him 
what  extremes,  opposites  and  contradictions  meet.  The  godlike  en- 
ergies of  mind  blended  with  the  feebleness  of  dust  ; the  embers  of 
eternal  life  glowing  amid  the  blackened  ashes  of  fleshly  corruption ; 
the  crystal  column  of  a spiritual  nature  besmeared  with,  the  filthy 
slime  of  a bestial  sensuality  ; the  aspirations  of  an  angel  in  con- 
flict with  the  tastes  of  the  brute ; the  emotions  of  a seraph  strug- 
gling with  the  passions  of  a demon  ; the  amaranthine  flowers  of 
virtue  exhaling  the  fragrance  of  Heaven,  close  beside  the  deadly 
nightshade  of  sin  distilling  the  poison  of  hell ; the  rainbow  glories 
of  the  upper  sanctuary  fringing  and  darting  athwart  the  pitchy 
darkness  of  the  nether  pit.  The  elements  of  the  three  worlds, 
heaven,  earth  and  hell,  are  mixed  together  in  our  mysterious  be- 
ing ; — the  last  two  in  league  against  the  first.  We  are  weighed 
down  by  the  infirmities  of  earthliness,  we  are  drawn  down  by  the 
powers  of  evil.  We  must  needs  then  summon  to  their  noblest  ex- 
ertion all  our  better  powers,  and  direct  their  exertion  most  earnestly 
to  the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  truth  and  virtue.  These  are  the 
three  great  elements  of  intellectual  and  moral  perfection.  To 

3 


18 

know  all  truth  important  for  us  to  know,  and  to  love  and  practise 
all  virtue,  is  to  “ make  the  most  of  our  intellectual  and  moral  be- 
ing.” This  strenuous  conflict  with  ignorance,  falsehood  and  vice, 
is  full  of  joyful  ho[)e,  and  the  issue  to  the  earnest,  persevering  seeker 
“after  glory,  and  honor,  and  immortality,”  ultimately  certain  ; for 
(jlod  looks  with  con)j)lacency  upon  the  aspiring  combatant,  and  will 
gird  him  with  a courage  and  energy  requisite  to  secure  the  victo- 
ry ; and  the  glories  of  all  earthly  victories  fade  into  imperceptible 
dimness  before  the  splendors  of  the  soul’s  conquests  in  this  noble 
strife. 

Another  condition  of  progress,  less  obvious,  but  hardly  less  im- 
portant, is  the  habit  of  considering  every  thing  gained,  as  but  a 
means  to  something  still  beyond  and  higher.  The  constitution  of 
things,  with  which  we  are  connected,  is  a vast  scheme,  whose  con- 
summation in  the  distant  ages  to  come,  is  to  illustrate  to  an  intelli- 
gent and  adoring  universe,  some  amazing  plan  of  Omnipotent  wis- 
dom and  goodness.  In  this  scheme,  each  successive  disclosure 
prepares  the  way  for  the  next,  and  is  subsidiary  to  it.  “ All  are 
but  parts  of  one  stupendous  whole.”  Now  we  are  inextricably 
involved  in,  and  moving  on  with  this  scheme,  which  is  to  complete 
one  of  the  long,  slow-moving  cycles  of  eternity,  and  we  must  live 
to  see  the  final  and  crowning  disclosure,  and  the  new*  and  surpass- 
ing glories  of  the  infinite  and  beneficent  Mind,  which  will  then 
burst  upon  creation.  For  man,  then,  in  his  present  brief  exist- 
ence, there  are  no  ultimate  ends.  The  beasts  that  perish  have 
their  ends  here.  They  fulfil  their  course,  finish  their  destiny,  and 
are  no  more  ; but  man’s  life  is  designed  to  be  a continued  series 
of  means,  looking  on,  and  still  on,  to  some  distant  goal.  Or,  rather, 
we  may  say,  every  achievement  has  both  the  nature  of  an  end  and 
a means  ; an  end  to  what  has  gone  before,  a means  to  what  is  to 
come  after.  One  of  the  characteristic  errors  of  fallen  man,  is,  ever 
to  be  making  what  w^as  designed  as  a means,  an  ultimate  end,  and 
thus  foregoing  the  exercise  of  his  high  prerogative,  as  a rational 
being,  of  reviewing  and  gathering  up  the  experiences  of  the  past, 
and  of  penetrating  and  anticipating  the  future,  and  dropping  into 


19 

the  class  of  irrational  natures.  The  past,  present,  and  future,  can- 
not be  separated  in  any  just  view  of  human  relations  and  responsi- 
bilities. The  present  is  the  aggregate  result  of  all  the  past,  and 
will  give  complexion  to  all  the  future.  This  brutish  error  is  one  of 
the  most  serious  hindrances  to  the  mind’s  progress  ; for  though  the 
faculties  may  be  never  so  busily  and  energetically  at  work,  there 
is  no  enlargement  and  stretching  onward.  All  movement  is  not 
progress.  The  most  lively  motion  is  often  seen  in  the  most  con- 
tracted circle.  There  is  no  more  important  habit  than  that  of  con- 
templating things  and  events  in  their  relations,  and  especially  their 
relations  as  causes  and  occasions  of  other  things.  The  relations  of 
a thing  are  what  give  it  its  true  value  and  significancy.  They 
often  invest  seeming  trifles  with  transcendent  importance.  The 
apprehension  of  relations  is  one  of  the  highest  of  the  mind’s  prero- 
gatives, and  he  has  the  best,  and  largest,  and  most  powerful  mind, 
who  most  justly  apprehends,  and  can  the  farthest  trace,  and  take 
in  the  widest  survey  of  the  real  relations  of  things  presented  to  his 
contemplation.  The  difference  in  the  capacities  of  men  to  per- 
ceive, comprehend,  and  appreciate  relations,  is  the  true  standard  of 
the  comparative  estimate  of  their  intellectual  calibres,  and  of  the 
elevation,  breadth  and  moral  dignity  of  their  respective  characters. 
Take  an  illu*stration.  Here  are  two  men,  of  equal  philological 
ability,  engaged  in  ascertaining  the  meaning  of  a small  particle  in 
a dead  language.  The  meaning  may  turn  upon  a single  letter  or 
accent,  no  matter  how  small  the  point,  on  which  the  doubt  hangs. 
They  both  succeed,  and  rejoice  in  the  triumph.  But  penetrate  the 
interior  of  their  minds  and  mark  their  respective  states.  One  is 
rejoicing  in  a mere  philological  triumph,  and  reposes  complacently 
upon  his  laurels,  and  looks  no  farther.  The  other,  because  he  has 
' found  a golden  key  that  will  throw  open  dark  doors  which  have 
arrested  him  in  his  earnest  investigations,  and  let  in  a flood  of  light 
upon  vital  truths  whose  clear  illustration  he  perceives  must  have 
the  most  important  practical  bearings  upon  the  present  and  eternal 
welfare  of  his  fellow-men.  What  an  immense  intellectual  and 
moral  difference  between  these  two  individuals  ! One  is  the  mere 


3 


20 

phihlogistj  and  as  7)ian,  may  be  almost  as  small  as  the  point  on 
which  his  acuminated  faculties  had  been  concentrated.  lie  has 
received  no  impulse,  no  enlargement  from  his  achievement.  The 
other  was  growing  all  the  time  while  engaged  in  his  critical  inves- 
tigation, and  the  result  unveiled  a new  world  of  inspiring  thought 
to  him,  and  exalted  and  expanded  his  whole  intellectual  and  moral 
nature,  and  he  stands  before  us,  not  the  mole-eyed  critic  and  the 
shrivelled  7uan,  but  the  philosophical  scholar,  the  enlightened,  large- 
souled  Christian  philanthropist,  the  sublime  teacher  of  his  race. 
Who  can  mistake  one  great  point  of  this  wide  difference  between 
two  men  engaged  in  the  same  employment,  and  with  equal  suc- 
cess ? The  one  has  made  his  success  an  ultimate  end,  and  has 
never  raised  and  extended  his  view  to  its  relations  to  higher  and 
nobler  objects.  The  other  valued  his  success  mily  for  its  relations. 
We  see,  clearly,  from  this  illustration,  how  the  relations  of  a thing 
give  it  value  and  importance.  Nothing  is  insignificant,  nothing 
mean,  in  view  of  its  relations.  Every  kind  of  effort  and  labor  be- 
comes ennobling  and  tributary  to  improvement  and  progress,  when 
pursued  with  special  reference  to  the  realization  of  a worthy  and 
noble  purpose.  To  give  a cup  of  cold  water  to  a fellow  creature, 
is  a very  small,  and  may  be,  a very  unraeritorious  thing  ; but  when 
it  is  done  because  he  is  a disciple  of  the  blessed  Saviour,  and  to  do 
honor  to  that  Saviour,  the  praise  of  the  deed  shall  be  rung  upon 
angels’  harps,  and  make  the  doer  a nobler  and  purer  being.  Cul- 
tivate, then,  gentlemen,  the  habit  of  considering  and  tracing  the 
relations  between  all  you  do,  and  its  results  in  the  future  upon  the 
cause  of  truth  and  human  welfare,  as  well  as  upon  your  own  des- 
tiny, and  you  cannot  but  be  rising  in  the  real  worth  of  your  being. 
The  illustration  of  the  above  topic  suggests  the  admonition,  that 
you  habitually  entertain  a very  modest  estimate  of  your  actual  at- 
tainments. Such  an  estimate  is  forced  upon  a reflecting  mind,  by 
a due  consideration  of  the  suggestions,  imperfect  as  they  are, 
which  have  been  already  thrown  out.  An  intelligent  and  sober 
comparison  of  what  we  actually  are,  even  the  best  of  us,  with 
what  we  may  become,  by  a wise  and  diligent  improvement  of  our 


21 

resources  and  opportunities,  cannot  fail  to  check  our  vanity,  and 
dash  our  complacency,  in  I'espect  to  any  triumphs  achieved,  or 
progress  gained.  Nothing  is  more  unworthy  of  us  than  to  be  sa- 
tisfied and  vain  of  what  we  are,  or  of  what  we  have  done,  and 
nothing,  I may  add,  which  lies  more  directly  in  our  way  in  our 
progressive  improvement.  He  who  thinks  he  has  attained,  or,  in 
the  somewhat  low,  but  sententious  phrase,  “ knows  it  knows 
nothing  yet  as  he  ought  to  know.  Bethink  you,  gentlemen,  of  the 
arduous  and  immortal  task  assigned  you.  Out  of  the  intellectual 
and  moral  chaos  which  your  being  now  presents,  to  bring  order 
and  beauty,  and  a perfection  which  shall  mirror  the  image  of  the 
all-perfect  One.  The  sculptor,  with  a vivid  conception  of  a fault- 
less model,  sits  down  to  his  rude  and  amorphous  material,  and 
begins  a work  whose  completion  is  to  entrance  the  world  by  a 
visible  embodiment  of  his  ideal  conception,  and  secure  to  himself 
an  immortality  of  fame.  What  should  we  think  of  him,  if,  after 
knocking  a few  chips  from  the  solid  block,  he  should  fold  his  arms 
and  felicitate  himself  upon  his  admirable  achievement  ? He  com- 
mits no  such  folly  as  this.  That  conception  continues  to  glow 
more  brightly,  while,  under  its  inspiring  influence,  he  patiently 
and  enthusiastically  toils,  days,  and  months,  and  years,  and  never 
remits,  until  the  last  stroke  is  struck  which  leaves  the  solid  marble 
a breathing,  heaving,  intelligent,  and  majestic  form,  and  the  glory 
of  his  triumph  complete  and  unfading.  And  so,  gentlemen,  should 
you  persevere  in  your  efforts  to  realize  a conception  of  a self- 
perfection,  and  adopting,  as  your  motto,  the  language  of  the  great 
Apostle,  “ Not  as  though  I had  attained,  either  were  already  per- 
fect, but  this  one  thing  I do,  forgetting  those  things  which  are  behind 
and  reaching  forth  unto  those  things  which  are  before,  I press  to- 
wards the  mark  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus.”  Raise 
your  conception  high,  and  sustain  it  by  frequent  meditations,  on 

“ What  high  capacious  powers 
Lie  folded  up  in  man  ; how  far  beyond 
The  praise  of  mortals,  may  the  eternal  growth 
Of  nature  to  perfection  half  divine 
Expand  the  blooming  soul.” 


22 

But  our  own  individual  improvement  is  itself  to  be  regarded  as 
a means  to  something  still  higher  and  nobler.  We  have  done 
much  in  accomplishing  the  aim  of  life,  in  respect  to  ourselves, 
when  we  have  prepared  our  minds  to  be  powerful  and  efficient 
instruments  in  effectuating  good  to  others.  Our  onward  progress 
will  be  best  promoted  by  such  employment.  To  confine  our  re- 
gards and  assiduities  to  ourselves,  though  it  were  for  the  purpose 
of  carrying  up  our  nature  to  the  perfection  of  Gabriel,  would  not 
be  to  fulfil  the  mission  for  which  we  have  been  sent  into  a world  of 
intelligent  and  accountable  beings.  No  man  is  ‘to  live  to  himself.’ 
The  social  principle  implanted  in  his  nature,  teaches  this  truth,  as 
well  as  the  precepts  and  spirit  of  our  holy  religion.  He  is  formed 
for  society,  to  dwell  in  union  with  his  fellows,  to  be  a member^  a 
constituent  part  of  a community.  The  path  of  his  true  destiny  lies 
right  through  the  domain  of  a living,  breathing,  conscious,  acting 
humanity.  It  is  intimately  blended  with,  nay,  is  an  inseparable 
part  of  the  common  destiny  of  his  race.  Pure  selfishness  is  a total 
inversion  of  our  original  nature.  Self-isolation  from  our  kind,  is 
an  abnormal  and  monstrous  state  of  being.  God  has  made  nothing 
to  be  alone.  The  principle  of  community,  of  mutual  relation  of 
parts,  of  reciprocal  action,  of  inter-dependence  of  interest,  of  multi- 
plicity in  unity,  runs  through  all  his  works.  It  pervades  his  ma- 
terial creation.  Worlds  are  formed  into  systems,  systems  are 
arranged  in  constellations,  constellations  are  grouped  in  masses, 
and  so  on,  beyond  the  utmost  stretch  of  imagination.  It  is  the 
same  in  the  living  world,  and  pre-eminently  so  of  intellectual  and 
moral  beings.  No  one  can  answer  the  purpose  of  his  being,  save 
in  a state  of  sociality.  The  noblest  and  most  genial  portion  of  his 
nature  withers  and  shrinks  away,  unless  permitted  to  pour  abroad 
its  gushing  sympathies  over  concentric  circles  of  nearer  and  re- 
moter fellowship.  The  divine  constitution  sets  human  beings  in 
families,  societies,  nations ; and  nations,  “ like  kindred  drops,  should 
mingle  into  one,”  and  constitute  a general  brotherhood  of  the  race. 
The  consummation  of  the  redemptive  scheme  presents  us  a glo- 
rious community  of  bright  spirits,  bound  together  by  the  golden 


23 

chain  of  mutual  love,  each  imparting  his  share  of  light  to  the  in- 
tense splendors,  and  his  peculiar  melody  to  the  ravishing  har- 
monies which  hold  in  amaze  and  ecstacy  the  universal  soul  of 
heaven. 

This  relation  to  a whole,  or  to  a community,  gives  the  parts 
themselves  their  highest  value.  For,  however  beautiful  and  per- 
fect in  themselves,  they  are  less  so  for  any  intrinsic  excellence, 
than  for  the  association.  Each  part  contributes  something  to  the 
perfection  of  the  whole,  but  receives  in  turn,  from  the  combined 
effect,  much  more  than  it  gives.  It  is  a universal  principle  to 
value  a thing  according  to  its  place  and  fitness  in  relation  to  other 
things  with  which  it  is  associated  in  a general  effect.  The  dia- 
mond is  beautiful  in  its  matrix,  but  place  it  upon  the  brow  of  beauty 
and  it  blazes  with  new  and  higher  lustre.  And  so  individual  man 
receives  a peculiar  enhancement  of  value  from  his  connexion 
with  a community.  The  community  is  far  more  to  him,  than  he 
is  to  it.  The  application  of  these  observations  to  our  subject,  is 
obvious.  The  good  of  the  individual  cannot  be  separated  from  the 
good  of  the  whole,  and  the  latter  is  a higher  and  more  excellent 
object  than  the  former.  The  true  idea  of  a community  of  rational 
and  responsible  beings,  is,  that  while  each  is  a living  centre  in  him- 
self, he  moves  in  a sphere  around  a common  centre  with  his  fellow 
men.  He  is  not  to  lose  his  identity — his  own  peculiar  individuality 
is  to  be  brought  out,  and  defined  in  all  its  completeness  ; but  the 
interest  of  his  common  connexion  embraces  all  his  own  interests. 
He  should  hence  consider  his  own  interest  identified  with  the 
interests  of  the  whole,  and  subordinate.  And  no  one  can  pro- 
perly conceive  of  the  purpose  of  his  life,  until  he  rises  to  a clear 
view  of  a general  good,  involving  his  own  individual  good. — 
The  sage  Johnson  characteristically  remarked,  while  meditating 
upon  the  ruins  of  Iona,  that  “ whatever  detached  man  from  the 
present  and  carried  him  back  into  the  past,  or  forward  into  the 
future,  elevated  him  in  the  true  dignity  of  his  being.”  We  would 
give  a modified  and  nobler  form  to  the  thought,  and  say,  that  what- 
ever carries  a man  out  of  himself,  and  engages  his  thoughts  upon 


24 

the  interests  and  wellare  of  liis  fellow-beings,  elevates  and  ennobles 
liini.  There  is  a principle  in  every  well-conditioned  mind,  which 
instinctively  meets  out  respect  to  an  individual  in  proportion  as  the 
circle  of  his  sympathies  is  seen  to  widen.  The  man  who  is  in- 
tensely selfish,  who  invests  and  concentrates  upon  himself  all  Ids 
nlfections  and  solicitudes,  asks  our  respect  in  vain.  We  cannot  help 
despising  him.  The  poet  says,  “ ’tis  not  in  folly  not  to  scorn  a fool 
we  add,  ’tis  not  in  selfishness  itself  not  to  despise  a selfish  soul. 
When  we  see  him,  however,  extending  his  affectionate  regards  to 
his  family,  and  acting  the  part  of  a kind  husband  and  father,  a feel- 
ing of  genuine  respect  is  awakened  towards  him,  though  this  out- 
going of  his  nature  be  but  an  expansion  of  his  self-love.  But  when 
he  manifests  a lively  concern  for  the  welfare  of  his  neighborhood 
and  community,  we  warm  into  a feeling  of  high  esteem.  Still 
more  does  he  call  forth  our  admiring  approval  when  we  see  him 
rising  to  a comprehension  and  solicitude  for  the  highest  good  of  his 
country.  True  patriotism  challenges  our  reverence.  And,  finally, 
when  he  takes  into  his  views  the  whole  race,  without  distinction  of 
nations,  classes  or  conditions,  and  addresses  himself  in  the  spirit  of 
an  all-embracing,  self-sacrificing  philanthropy,  to  its  amelioration, 
we  are  smitten  with  the  moral  sublimity  of  the  spectacle.  We 
feel  that  he  is  coming  up  to  the  full  measure  and  dignity  of  his  true 
nature.  Allow  me,  then,  gentlemen,  earnestly  to  urge  upon  your 
consideration  as  an  appropriate  part,  and,  I would  add,  the  chief 
part,  of  the  great  aim  of  your  lives, — the  improvement  and  advance- 
ment towards  perfection  of  your  race.  Expand  your  conception  to 
take  in  the  excellence  and  grandeur  of  this  aim.  Where  shall  we 
find  a fitting  illustration  to  assist  your  minds  in  reaching  the  con- 
ception of  a restored  and  perfected  humanity  ? Having  already 
formed  some  idea  of  the  perfection  of  a single  individual,  multiply 
the  glorious  unit  by  the  myriads  which  compose  the  human  family, 
each  one  of  whom  has  the  same  elements  out  of  which  by  the  same 
means  to  work  a like  perfection.  We  are  assured  by  God  himself, 
that  one  perfected  human  being  shall  be  invested  with  a glory  be- 
fore which  the  sun  himself  shall  “pale  his  ineffectual  fires.”  He 


dor ! How  poorly  this  material  image  represents  the  intellectual 
and  moral  glory  which  shall  invest  the  perfected  race  of  man* 
Indeed,  all  material  images  in  this  case,  however  magnificent, 
come  infinitely  short  of  an  adequate  representation  of  the  reality, 
because  one  immortal  mind  in  real  worth  of  being  outweighs  mill- 
ions of  suns.  Now  it  is  the  high  privilege  of  every  one  to  contri- 
bute something  towards  this  glorious  consummation.  The  living 
exemplification  of  a single  virtue,  by  the  humblest  individual,  may 
be  the  centre  of  a beneficent  influence  expanding  in  concentric 
waves  over  a surface  of  unknown  extent.  The  close  net-work  of 
relations  which  pervades,  like  the  nervous  tissue,  the  great  mass  of 
human  kind,  gives  unlimited  action  to  the  law  of  influence ; and 
such  now  are  the  increasing  facilities  for  rapid  and  extended  com- 
munication in  every  direction  over  the  earth,  that  in  a short  time 
there  will  not  be  a spot  on  the  habitable  globe  that  will  not  be  ac- 
cessible to  the  influence  of  any  individual  who  may  choose  to  exert 
it.  He  may  put  in  motion  agencies,  originate  and  send  abroad  in- 
fluences, which,  separating  to  the  east  and  the  west,  shall  hasten  to 
meet  upon  the  other  side  of  the  globe.  But  it  is  the  peculiar  pre- 
rogative of  educated  mind  to  do  good  upon  the  largest  scale ; to 
grasp  and  comprehend  in  their  various  relations  and  bearings,  and 
apply  to  the  practical  purposes  of  human  improvement,  great  and 
permanent  principles  which  are  themselves  the  sources  of  never- 
failing  streams  of  beneficence  ; to  seize  upon  those  master-influen- 
ces which  are  the  most  effective  in  moulding  and  directing  the  des- 
tinies of  a people,  energizing  and  enforcing  them  with  the  elements 
of  intellectual  and  moral  life,  and  giving  them  the  broadest  scope 
for  their  appropriate  action.  Now,  gentlemen,  what  are  these  in- 
fluences at  the  present  time? — (for  there  are  certain  dominant 
influences  which  give  character  to  every  period.)  What  are  the 
most  effective  means  of  doing  good  to  the  race  upon  the  largest 


4 


26 

scale  in  tliis  country,  and  to  which  it  should  be  your  laudable  am- 
bition  to  prepare  yourselves  to  give  the  highest  clFiciency  ? I should 
compromise  my  charaeter  as  the  minister  of  the  religion  of  Christ, 
if  I did  not  at  all  times  and  in  all  places  recognize  this  religion  in  its 
evangelical  purity,  as  above  all,  and  embracing  all  the  influences 
which  are  really  and  permanently  beneficent  upon  the  character 
and  prospects  of  man.  But  I come  not  here  to  preach  a sermon, 
or  to  vindicate  tlie  claims  of  any  religious  creed.  My  answer  to 
the  question  will  invite  your  attention  to  certain  subordinate  means 
of  a moral  kind,  and  these  are.  Literature^  Politics^  and  Moral  Re- 
forms. I greatly  misapprehend  the  character  of  the  age,  if  the 
sources  of  the  mightiest  streams  of  influence  which  are  playing 
upon  the  vast  and  complicated  machinery  of  human  society,  are 
not  found  in  these ; and  hence  I maintain  that  they  have  the 
strongest  claims  upon  the  enlightened  philanthropist,  as  means  of 
which  he  should  avail  himself,  in  carrying  forward  the  sublime 
work  of  human  improvement  and  progress.  I invite  your  serious 
attention  to  a few  suggestions  under  each  head. 

And,  first,  of  Literature.  This  exerts  the  widest  sway  of  the 
three,  for  the  reason  that  its  influence  is  the  most  diffusive,  subtle, 
and  penetrating.  It  enters  and  pervades  the  interior  of  the  soul, 
and  touches  all  the  springs  of  intellectual  and  moral  life.  I need 
not  be  particular  to  define  literature  here.  Your  own  reading  and 
reflection  have  given  you  sufficiently  definite  ideas  as  to  its  nature, 
to  appreciate  my  remarks  under  this  head.  .In  its  largest  sense, 
you  are  aware,  the  literature  of  a people  is  the  embodied  ex- 
pression of  its  mind  and  character ; of  its  thoughts,  opinions,  senti- 
ments and  feelings,  in  all  their  infinite  variety;  and  thus  is  a 
faithful  reflection  of  its  mental,  moral,  and  social  characteristics. 
In  this  sense,  it  comprises  all  the  achievements  of  the  aggregate 
intellect  of  a people  in  all  the  departments  of  knowledge.  There 
is  a restricted  sense  of  the  term,  which  limits  it  to  the  productions 
addressed  more  particularly  to  the  imagination  and  taste,  the  sen- 
timents and  feelings,  or  what  is  comprehensively  termed,  in  mo- 
dern phrase,  the  esthetic  part  of  our  nature.  Now,  in  this  reading 


/ 


27 


age,  when  the  child,  just  emerging  from  infancy,  and  the  grey* 
haired  grandsire,  on  the  eve  of  his  centenary,  are  alike  pouring 
over  the  printed  page,  and  the  vast  enginery  of  the  press  is  cease- 
lessly plying  day  and  night,  scattering  the  leaves  of  every  species 
of  literature  far  and  wide  over  the  land,  like  snow  flakes  in  a win- 
ter’s storm,  the  influence  from  this  source  can  no  more  be  estimated 
than  that  of  the  atmosphere  in  which  we  live  and  breathe,  and  it 
bears  very  much  the  same  relation  to  the  intellectual  and  moral, 
as  the  latter  does'  to  physical  life.  For  the  character  and  influence 
of  a literature,  educated  men  are  peculiarly  responsible.  They 
create  it,  and  give  to  it  its  elements  of  power.  Now,  two  kinds  of 
service  are  demanded  of  educated  men  in  respect  to  a living  litera- 
ture, consisting  as  it  must,  of  two  parts,  viz.,  the  accumulations  of 
the  past  and  the  accessions  of  the  present.  These  are,  criticism 
and  original  contributions.  The  province  of  criticism,  is  to  ana- 
lyze, discriminate  and  adjudge  the  merits  of  literary  productions, 
whether  of  dead  or  of  living  authors  ; to  detect,  condemn,  and  elim- 
inate, whatever  in  them  is  vicious  in  morals  or  taste,  and  nullify, 
as  far  as  possible,  its  influence  upon  the  present  generation,  and 
prevent  its  transmission  to  the  future  ; and  on  the  other  hand,  to 
set  forth,  commend  and  give  the  greatest  possible  effect  to  what- 
ever is  true,  and  pure,  and  beneficial  to  the  mental  and  moral  health 
of  the  reader.  The  other  service  is,  positively  to  add,  by  original 
thought,  and  spontaneous  excogitation,  to  the  substantial  and  per- 
manent material  of.  the  literature  itself ; to  enrich  and  adorn  it  by 
new  and  important  truths,  or  by  novel  and  felicitous  illustrations 
of  old  truths,  detecting  and  setting  forth  elements  of  power  in  them 
before  unnoticed,  and  placing  them  in  new  and  more  impressive 
lights,  and  thus  giving  them  a more  direct,  effective  and  control- 
ling sway  over  men’s  minds.  These  two  kinds  of  service  should 
never  be  intermitted,  and  should  always  go  together.  When  criti- 
cism absorbs  the  talents  and  learning  of  an  age,  it  is  a sure  indica- 
tion of  the  exhaustion  of  the  springs  of  original  power,  and  tame 
and  unimpressive  correctness  succeeds  to  the  vigor  and  freshness 
of  spontaneous  life.  But  when  its  office  is  pretermitted,  then  “ all 


28 

monstrous,  all  prodigious  things”  are  generated  hy  minds  of  na- 
tive strength,  but  of  crude  and  untrained  tastes,  with  no  standard 
and  no  guide  to  restrain  and  circumscribe  their  lawless  and  way- 
ward course.  But  when  these  services  are  conjoinlly  and  success- 
fully performed,  the  noblest  work  is  done  for  the  age  and  for  ages 
to  come.  A disinfecting  and  healthful  element  is  deposited  in  the 
great  fountain  itself,  which  is  sending  its  streams  wide  over  the 
earth,  to  run  through  all  coming  time,  at  which  millions  on  mill- 
ions, living  and  yet  unborn,  are  to  drink.  It  is  not  my  purpose  to 
lake  up  so  vast  a theme  as  the  character  of  the  extant  literature  of 
the  age  ; but  I must  say  at  this,  its  so  great  flood-time,  when  such 
accumulations  of  the  vile  are  mixed  in  with  the  precious,  there  is 
an  imperious  demand  for  the  two-fold  service  of  which  we  have 
spoken,  and  for  the  rarest  talent  and  accomplishments  in  those  who 
address  themselves  to  its  performance.  A calm  and  discriminat- 
ing survey  of  the  practical  influences  of  the  literature  at  this  time, 
while  it  brings  to  view  much  that  is  hopeful  and  cheering,  saddens 
us  by  much  of  a contrary  character.  It  is  cheering  to  mark  the 
expansion  of  mental  energy  and  growing  thirst  for  knowledge, 
which  are  every  where  discovered.  There  has  been  a general 
awakening  of  intellectual  life,  extending  to  the  obscurest  corners  of 
the  land.  Where  shall  we  find  any  considerable  collection  of 
human  beings,  even  in  the  remotest  villages  and  neighborhoods, 
which  does  not  embrace  a fair  proportion  of  reading,  intelligent 
and  active  minds,  abundantly  capable  of  appreciating  high  mental 
excellence  ? What  an  animating  prospect  for  the  play  of  the 
genial  influences  of  a pure  and  elevating  literature,  upon  so  many 
expanding  and  receptive  minds  ; and  many  of  them  are  receiving 
and  enjoying  these  inspiring  influenees.  But  many  more  are  feed- 
ing upon  a very  different  kind  of  mental  element.  How  many 
thousands  of  our  youth,  of  both  sexes,  to  say  nothing  of  those  in 
more  advanced  life,  who  at  home  or  travelling,  in  the  silent  room 
or  secluded  bower,  v are  absorbed  in  the  fascinating  pages  of  a spe- 
cies of  literature  charaeterized  by  uneommon  vigor  and  beauty  of 
conception,  and  by  great  brilliancy  and  graee  of  style,  but  pervad- 


/ 


j 


29 


ed  and  informed  by  extremely  vicious  moral  sentiments,  whose 
gross  impurity  is,  indeed,  concealed  by  the  elegant  and  tasteful 
attire,  but  not  the  less  concentrated  and  deadly  for  that  reason.. 
To  refine  and  sweeten  poison,  is  but  to  add  intenseness  to  its  fatal 
energy.  It  seems  discouraging,  when  we  contemplate  the  wide 
difiusion  of  this  literature,  and  the  deep  hold  which  it  has  taken 
upon  the  expanding  minds  of  the  young,  in  the  course  of  mental 
training.  The  kind  of  reading  to  which  we  are  addicted,  has  more 
to  do,  than  any  other  cause,  with  the  formation  of  our  character, 
the  fixing  of  our  tastes,  and  the  determination  of  our  destinies. 
What  hope  is  there  for  our  country,  when  its  talented  and  educated 
youth  are  morally  poisoned  ? How  is  this  evil  to  be  counteracted  ? 
The  grave  censures  of  the  moralist,  and  the  solemn  rebukes  of  the 
preacher,  have  proved  unavailing.  I fear  we  must  confess  that 
the  evil  is  on  the  increase.  One  of  the  worst  aspects  of  this  litera- 
ture, is  seen  in  its  lending  all  its  fascinations  to  increase  a ten- 
dency, alas,  but  too  rife  in  the  prosperous  condition  of  our  country. 
The  history  of  the  world  has  shown  that  one  of  the  unfailing  fruits 
of  a high  state  of  civilization,  is  a refined  sensualism.  We  use  the 
term  in  its  largest  sense,  as  including  all  that  ministers  to  the  “lust 
of  the  flesh,  and  the  lust  of  the  eyes,  and  the  pride  of  life.”  The 
inexhaustible  material  resources  of  our  country,  and'our  multiplied 
and  still  multiplying  means  of  rapid  and  gainful  traffic,  and  the 
benign  and  fostering  care  of  our  institutions  over  the  varied  in- 
terests of  society,  furnish  unprecedented  facilities  for  the  accumu- 
lation of  wealth,  and  the  multiplication  of  all  ihe  comforts  and 
luxuries  of  life.  The  agencies  of  modern  civilization,  so  nume- 
rous and  various,  so  practical  and  difiusive,  so  potent  and  effective, 
in  improving  man’s  individual  and  social  condition,  are  constantly 
moulding  our  rich  and  abundant  resources  into  forms  curiously 
adapted  to  gratify  the  appetite,  to  please  the  sense,  and  charm  the 
taste.  An  ample  competence,  large  wealth  even,  is  within  the 
reach  of  almost  every  industrious,  enterprizing  citizen.  He  may 
surround  himself  with  all  the  enriching  and  refining  elements  of 
the  most  wonderful  civilization  which  the  world,  in  its  long  history. 


30 

lias  ever  seen.  Amid  this  profusion  of  temporal  conveniences, 
comforts  and  elegancies,  there  is,  alas,  from  the  nature  of  the  case, 
a facile  proclivity  to  earthliness  and  sensuality.  This  beautiful 
earth,  whose  charms  may  be  so  easily  heightened  and  variegated 
by  the  appliances  of  tasteful  industry,  is  thought  to  be  a good 
enough  place  for  man ; and  a spiritual  heaven,  as  his  congenial  and 
eternal  home,  ceases  to  be  conceived  of,  much  less  desired.  The 
ripened  result  of  all  this,  will  be  the  recurrence  of  what  marked 
the  reign  of  ancient  civilization-^a  dominant  and  all-pervading 
sensualism,  an  entire  and  unrelieved  earthliness,  refined  it  may  be, 
in  many  instances,  and  adorned  and  beautified  with  the  exquisite 
elaborations  of  genius  and  art,  and  its  grosser  and  more  disgusting 
features  all  concealed  from  view.  O,  how  this  earthly  matter  can 
be  refined,  etherealized  and  subtilized,  apparently  into  spirit  itself. 
But  after  all,  it  is  not  spirit,  but  incorrigibly  of  the  earth,  earthly, 
and  so,  irredeemably  perishable.  And  sensualism,  in  whatever 
form  it  reigns  over  a people,  will  be  their  inevitable  ruin. — “ They 
that  sow  to  the  flesh  shall  reap  corruption,  nations  as  well  as  indi- 
viduals whether  its  influence  be  of  the  softer  kind,  enfeebling 
and  debasing  the  powers  of  the  body  and  soul,  and  producing  a 
nation  of  Sybarites  ; thus  preparing  them  for  an  easy  conquest  to 
an  invading  foe,  however  disproportioned  in  numbers ; or  of  the 
fiercer  sort,  fostering  and  inflaming  the  dark  and  malignant  pas- 
sions,  thus  kindling  up  a volcano  in  the  very  midst  of  the  social 
fabric,  to  heave  it  from  its  base,  and  scatter  its  fragments  in  wild 
confusion  over  the  land.  When  a pampered  sensualism  takes 
full  possession  of  a man,  he  becomes  almost  hopeless  as  to  any 
salutary  impressions  from  moral  and  spiritual  considerations.  So 
when  it  erects  its  throne  upon  the  gross  hearts  of  a nation,  and 
sways  its  Belial  sceptre  over  all  the  departments  of  social  life,  the 
strongest  barriers  are  thrown  up  against  the  nation’s  progress  in 
whatever  ministers  to  the  real  elevation  and  true  glory  of  human 
nature.  It  behooves  educated  men,  who  love  their  country  and 
their  race,  to  hasten  to  anticipate  the  advancing  reign  of  this  sen- 
sual spirit,  by  preparing  and  diffusing  every  where  a literature 


; 


31 


which  shall  sternly  rebuke  and  check  it  by  clear  and  impressive 
recognitions  of  man’s  immortality  and  spiritual  destiny ; a litera- 
ture imbued  and  redolent  with  the  things  of  faith,  and  acting  di- 
rectly upon  the  immortal  and  spiritual  instincts  of  the  soul.  This 
vicious  literature  of  which  we  speak,  can  only  be  robbed  of  its 
power  to  harm  by  a criticism  clothed  with  the  awful  majesty  of 
a moral,  as  well  as  a literary  censorship,  which  shall,  in  a masterly 
way  expose  its  sensualizing  and  vitiating  elements,  and  demon- 
strate to  the  moral  sense  of  the  community,  that  it  is  not  only 
“ earthly  and  sensual,”  but  “ devilish,”  too ; and  by  the  suhsti- 
tution,  in  its  stead,  of  a literature  which  shall  satisfy  the  de- 
mands of  the  intellectual  taste,  by  a still  higher  energy  of  thought, 
more  vivid  and  beautiful  illustrations,  and  a more  forcible,  elegant 
and  attractive  style,  and  which  shall  elicit  and  cultivate  the  moral 
taste  and  sensibilities,  by  its  pure  and  elevated  moral  sentiments. 
He  who  would  aspire,  then,  gentlemen,  to  do  the  largest  good  to 
his  race,  must  avail  himself  of  the  amazing  power  of  the  press,  in 
the  creation  of  a current  literature,  whose  intellectual  and  moral 
qualities  shall  command  the  interested  attention  and  devotion  of  the 
mind  and  heart  of  the  rising  youth.  It  is  a trite  remark  that  the 
pen,  through  the  aid  of  the  press,  has  come  to  be  the  great  lever  of 
moral  power ; but  the  triteness  of  the  remark  should  not  make  us 
feel  less  its  truth,  and  the  fearful  responsibility  it  imposes  upon 
educated  men,  in  whose  hands  this  great  lever  is.  No  limits  can 
be  set  to  the  power  of  a vigorous  pen,  in  this  age  of  reading  and 
thought.  Here  allow  me  to  quote  a single  sentence  from  a pub- 
lished production  of  my  own  : “ Who  can  estimate  the  value,  or 

measure  the  achievements  of  this  little  instrument,  by  which  an 
individual,  in  the  retirement  of  his  closet,  can  speak  to  the  living 
millions  of  earth,  and  to  generations  yet  unborn  ; by  which  he  can 
promulge  a principle,  or  give  utterance  to  a sentiment,  which  shall 
produce  moral  revolutions  in  kingdoms  and  empires,  and  thrill 
upon  the  heart  of  the  world,  and  continue  a living,  breathing  thing, 
speaking  with  a voice  of  power  and  authority,  ages  after  its  author 
is  silent  in  the  grave.”  O,  there  is  life  and  immortality,  and  a sort 


32 

of  omnipotence  in  thought  ! A great  idea,  rising  on  an  earnest 
mind  that  can  give  it  fitting  utterance,  is  often  the  beginning  of  a 
world  and  an  age  of  good  to  the  liuman  race.  This  is  the  true 
Minerva,  springing  ‘ perfect  and  full  armed,’  from  the  head  of 
Jupiter,  to  go  forth  to  do  battle  against  the  legions  of  ignorance 
and  error,  and  to  emancipate  and  bring  mankind  ‘ into  the  glorious 
liberty  of  the  sons  of’  light.  It  is  profoundly  interesting  to  follow 
the  history  and  note  the  victories  of  a single  truth  in  the  world. 
The  poet  speaks  of 

‘‘  Truths  that  awake  to  perish  never.*’  « 

This  is  characteristic  of  all  truths, — they  are  immortal.  And 
when  conceived  or  discovered,  or  however  brought  into  existence, 
and  thrown  distinctly  into  view  upon  the  field  of  the  intellectual 
vision,  they  continue  with  various  fortunes  to  travel  along  down 
with  successive  generations  of  mankind,  sometimes  their  blessed 
light  almost  extinguished  and  their  tones  of  power  hushed  into  a 
still  small  voice,  whispering  words  of  hope  and  comfort  to  a few 
chosen  spirits,  and  then  again  blazing  out  and  pealing  forth  their 
thunders,  and  startling  from  their  slumbers  whole  communities. 
Sometimes  a great  truth,  after  being  long  hidden  from  view  by 
dark  clouds  of  error,  thickly  enshrouding  the  souls  of  men,  dis- 
closes itself  to  some  single  mind,  and  pours  its  illuminations  and 
inspiring  influence  into  its  ample  capacity  ; and  that  mind  comes 
forth  upon  the  great  theatre  of  humanity  invested  with  the  light, 
and  strong  with  the  power  of  that  truth,  to  radiate  its  beams,  and 
utter  its  triumphant  peal  over  sleeping  nations  ; and  a new  era 
opens  upon  the  world,  and  that  truth  continues  to  blaze  and  boom 
on  down  the  track  of  successive  generations,  giving  life  and  cha- 
racter to  an  epoch  in  human  history. 

In  the  study  of  history,  I have  been  deeply  interested  in  mark- 
ing  the  birth  and  progress  of  a truth,  how  it  lives  and  gathers 
power  from  generation  to  generation,  amid  the  changes  and  vicis- 
■ situde  -that  checker  the  earthly  destiny  of  the  race,  until  a crisis 
arises  - which  disengages  it  from  all  embarrassments,  and  it  comes 


Jr-”'  • 


33 


forth  with  a kind  of  omnipotence,  to  rule  for  a while  in  the  empire 
of  mind.  Like  the  earthquake,  whose  distant  rumblings  are  heard 
long  before  the  dreadful  explosion,  which  heaves  seas  from  their 
beds  and  lays  in  ruins  mighty  cities,  its  rumblings  are  heard  in 
the  distance  and  its  heavings  are  felt  along  the  surface  of  society, 
giving  rise  to  undefined  but  fearful  expectations,  long  before  the 
final  catastrophe  which  smites  to  the  dust  the  thrones  and  monu- 
ments, and  colossal  edifices  of  ignorance  and  error.  What  hope  is 
here  for  man  ! — the  power  of  truth  endures  from  age  to  age  ! O, 
give  me  to  enshrine  a great  truth  in  my  country’s  literature,  and 
I will  say,  not  that  kings  may  wear  their  crowns  without  envy,  for 
crowns  are  baubles  in  these  days,  but  that  others  are  welcome  to 
all  the  shining  dust  and  glittering  gems  that  bespangle  the  caves 
of  earth  and  ocean. 

Next  to  a pure  religion,  we  cannot  transmit  to  coming  genera- 
tions a more  precious  inheritance  than  a literature  radiant  with  the 
illuminations  of  truth,  and  glowing  with  the  spirit  of  purity  and  of 
heaven. 

I can  touch  but  briefly  upon  the  other  two  modes  of  doing  good — 
Politics  and  Moral  Reform.  I shall  dismiss  the  first  of  these  with 
two  or  three  general  remarks,  though  I had  written  somewhat  at 
length  upon  the  subject.  I use  the  term  politics  in  no  narrow,  par- 
tizan  sense.  I mean  that  noble  science  which  teaches  us  how  to 
govern  men  wisely  and  happily  in  communities  and  states, — the 
science  of  constitutions,  of  legislation,  and  of  the  social  relations  of 
communities,  and  of  individuals  in  a community.  If  such  be  its 
province  and  scope,  it  is  seen  at  once  to  embrace  some  of  the  most 
powerful  influences  which  affect  the  social  destiny  of  man.  “ It  is 
a work  good  and  prudent,”  says  Milton,  “ to  be  able  to  guide  one 
man,  of  larger  extended  virtue,  to  order  well  one  house,  but  to  go- 
vern a nation  piously  and  justly,  which  only  is  to  say  happily,  is 
for  a spirit  of  the  greatest  size  and  divinest  mettle.  And  certainly 
of  no  less  mind,  nor  of  less  excellence  in  another  way,  were  those 
who  by  writing  laid  the  solid  and  true  foundations  of  this  science, 
which  is  of  the  greatest  importance  to  the  life  of  man.”  And  fur* 


o 


ther  : “ To  govern  well  is  to  train  up  a nation  to  true  wisdom  and 
virtue,  and  that  which  springs  from  them,  magnanimity — (take 
heed  of  that,) — and  that  which  is  our  beginning,  regeneration,  and 
happiest  end,  likeness  to  God,  which,  in  one  word,  we  call  godli- 
ness, and  that  this  is  the  true  flourishing  of  a land,  other  things 
follow  as  the  shadow  does  the  substance.” — “ A commonwealth 
ought  to  be  but  as  one  large  Christian  personage,  one  mighty 
growth  and  stature  of  an  honest  man,  as  big  and  compact  in  virtue 
as  in  body,  for  look  what  the  grounds  and  causes  are  of  single  hap- 
piness are  to  one  man,  the  same  ye  shall  find  them  to  a whole 
state.”  Here  is  set  forth  most  graphically  the  true  object  of  politi- 
cal science.  It  is  to  build  up  and  perfect  a commonwealth  of  in- 
telligent and  responsible  beings,  securing  to  all  their  personal 
rights,  and  liberty,  and  property,  and  educing  a beautiful  social 
order  and  harmony  by  the  adjustment  and  balance  of  living  forces. 
To  be  familiar  with  its  principles,  and  in  a position  to  give  them 
practical  effect,  puts  a power  of  doing  extensive  good  in  our  hands. 
Now,  our  civil  institutions,  it  seems  to  me,  are  wonderful  realiza- 
tions of  those  principles.  I cannot  hesitate  to  believe  that  they 
have  been  shaped  by  a superhuman  wisdom  to  the  noblest  princi- 
ples and  impulses  of  our  nature.  They  furnish  the-  opportunity 
and  incitement  too,  to  every  individual,  for  the  full  exercise  of  every 
useful  energy  and  the  freest  scope  for  his  enlargement  and  pro- 
gress, in  every  desirable  improvement  of  his  nature  and  circum- 
stances. O,  never  upon  the  tide  of  time,  was  there  launched  by 
human  instrumentality  “ a vessel  freighted  with  such  precious 
hopes  and  bright  destinies  for  the  race,  as  our  wise  and  happy 
government.”  This  is  not  mere  fourth  of  July  declamation  or  the 
effervescence  of  an  unintelligent,  over-wrought,  patriotic  zeal. 
Whatever  defects  there  may  be  in  our  political  system,  a sagacious 
and  comprehensive  intelligence  that  understands  the  principles  of 
human  nature,  and  can  appreciate  the  social  influences  which  act 
most  genially  upon  it,  will  not  fail,  in  its  most  sober  and  candid 
moods,  to  justify  our  eulogium.  I may  be  permitted  to  say,  in 
passing,  without  intending  any  offence  to  sectional  prejudice,  that 


35 

I do  not  include  in  my  conception  of  our  political  system,  the  “ pe- 
culiar domestic  institution”  of  the  southern  portion  of  our  common 
country.  I hold  that  this  “ institution”  is  not  an  element  in  our 
political  system.  It  existed  anterior  to  the  establishment  of  the 
latter,  and  was  not  incorporated  with  it.  It  was,  indeed,  inciden- 
tally recognized,  and  w’as  tolerated  as  a present  evil  which  could 
not  be  suddenly  removed,  but  must  be  left  to  the  ameliorating 
influences  flowing  from  the  principles  inherent  in  the  system. 
We  fully  believe  that  simple  justice  to  the  memory  of  the  im- 
mortal founders  of  our  national  compact,  requires  us  to  vindicate 
them  from  the  imputation  of  anticipating,  much  less  of  desiring  the 
perpetuity  of  human  slavery  in  any  portion  of  our  country.  They 
had  the  conviction  that  it  would  necessarily  die  out,  and  that  at  no 
distant  day,  under  the  action  of  those  great  principles  of  freedom 
and  equality,  which  constituted  the  essential  elements  of  the  political 
system  which  they  formed  and  established. 

If,  then,  our  political  institutions  are  the  embodiment  of  the  true 
principles  of  human  freedom,  they  should  be  inexpressibly  dear  to 
us,  not  only  as  patriots,  who  love  our  country,  but  as  philanthro- 
pists, who  love  mankind.  We  should  earnestly  and  thoroughly 
study  their  theory,  spirit  and  practical  operation,  and  honor  and 
magnify  them  before  the  world,  by  being  ourselves  living  illustra- 
tions of  their  peculiar  and  ennobling  power.  Every  American 
citizen  should  be  moved  by  the  worthy  ambition  of  becoming  him- 
self the  incarnation  of  American  republicanism.  This  is  a far 
nobler  ambition  than  that  which  would  lead  him  to  aspire  to  be 
the  most  brilliant  star  in  the  saloons  of  the  aristocracy,  or  the 
most  accomplished  courtier  in  the  palaces  of  royalty,  or  even,  were 
it  possible,  the  august  occupant  of  the  throne  itself.  We  would 
fearlessly  challenge  the  world  to  match,  in  the  attributes  of  true 
and  noble  manhood,  a character  formed  and  moulded  by  the  legiti- 
mate influences  of  our  institutions,  and  embodying  and  expressing 
their  peculiar  genius  and  spirit.  Would  that  such  characters  were 
multiplying  more  rapidly  than  they  are  thoughout  all  ranks  of  our 
citizens.  Their  diminishing  proportion  to  the  increase  of  the  general 


36 

aggregate  of  our  numbers,  is  a portentous  sign  in  the  horizon  of  our 
destiny  as  a mighty  Republic.  Are  there  not  grounds  to  fear,  in  the 
rapid  increase  of  wealth  and  luxury,  that  the  aristocratic  and  ex- 
clusive element  is  gaining  upon  the  democratic  and  comprehensive, 
in  the  arrangements,  tone  and  temper  of  society  in  this  boastful 
republic  of  ours  ? How  poorly  an  American  citizen  appreciates  the 
noble  position  in  which  Providence  has  placed  him, — how  misera- 
bly he  mistakes  his  “ mission,”  when  his  ambition  is,  not  to  under- 
stand and  carry  out  in  practice  the  true  principles  and  spirit  of 
those  institutions  to  which  he  owes  all  his  consequence,  but  to  ape 
the  manners  and  airs  of  an  imported  and  effete  aristocracy  ! O, 
how  my  soul  despises  such  traitorous  meanness.  Give  me  the  true 
democrat,  I care  not  to  what  political  party  he  belongs,  who  prizes 
the  privilege  of  being  an  American  citizen  above  that  of  being  the 
greatest  peer  within  the  shadow  of  royalty,  and  who  rejoices  in 
the  “scope  and  verge”  afforded  him  by  our  political  system,  to 
give  full  development  and  free  action  to  his  democratic  sentiments, 
— whose  large  soul  encircles  in  its  comprehensive  sympathies,  all 
classes  of  his  fellow  citizens,  and  feels  a warm  and  living  interest 
in  the  welfare  of  each.  There  are  two  methods  by  which  we  can 
benefit  men  in  connection  with  our  political  institutions.  1st.  We 
can  make  them  more  practically  effective  upon  the  character  and 
interests  of  society  at  home.  2d.  We  can  commend  them  more 
impressively  to  the  imitation  of  other  nations.  I had  struck  out 
extended  trains  of  reflections  under  each  of  these  heads,  but  I must 
exclude  them  all,  as  they  would  occupy,  in  extenso,  too  much  space, 
and  any  synopsis  would  be  unsatisfactory.  I dismiss  the  subject 
with  this  general  hint,  that  every  American  citizen  has  a twofold 
“ mission” — To  do  what  he  can  to  carry  out  in  all  their  practical 
exemplifications,  through  the  medium  of  state  and  national  legisla- 
tion, and  the  arrangements  and  institutions  of  society  generally, 
the  peculiar  principles  and  spirit  of  American  republicanism,  and 
To  guard,  with  sleepless  vigilance,  the  integrity  of  that  glorious 
political  system  which  enshrines  these  principles,  and  is  all  redolent 
of  this  spirit,  as  a sacred  trust  for  the  coming  generations  in  his 


37' 

own  happy  land,  and  for  the  oppressed  nations  throughout  the 
earth. 

This  has  been  called  peculiarly  the  age  of  reforms.  There  is  a 
busy  spirit  examining  and  shaking  existing  institutions  and  cus- 
toms, and  attempting  to  overthrow  or  remodel,  to  change  or  rectify 
them.  New  plans  and  enterprises  for  social  improvement  and  pro- 
gress are  constantly  proposed  and  earnestly  urged.  The  cry  has 
gone  forth  and  is  ringing  loud  and  clear,  from  every  hilltop  and 
reverberating  along  every  valley,  “ Let  old  things  pass  away,  and 
let  us  make  all  things  new.”  We  believe  this  spirit  is,  in  the  main, 
a well-intentioned  and  philanthropic  one.  It  has  been  turning  the 
attention  of  men  in  good  earnest  to  the  improvement  of  their  own 
condition,  and  that  of  their  species  at  large,  and  has  made  plans 
and  means  of  social  advancement  and  happiness  popular  topics,  in 
the  discussion  and  prosecution  of  which  the  best  minds  and  hearts 
have  been  engaged.  We  have  reason  to  thank  a gracious  Provi- 
dence that  our  lot  has  been  cast  in  this  age  of  the  world,,  when  a 
benevolent  and  philanthropic  spirit  has  gone  abroad  over  the  earth 
breathing  a strange  influence  upon  the  noblest  powers  of  our  na- 
ture, and  rousing  them  to  the  sublime  effort  of  sundering  the  chains 
of  tyrannic  rule  and  despotic  custom,  and  struggling  toward 
the  high  perfection  to  which  they  are  destined  by  their  Creator. 
This  blessed  spirit  has  already  achieved  wonders,  and  strewn 
countless  precious  blessings  in  its  path.  I would  earnestly  recom- 
mend to  you  gentlemen,  to  give  your  w'arm  sympathy  and  your 
personal  and  most  hearty  co-operation  to  the  great  reforming  move- 
ments of  the  age.  Richly  furnished,  thoroughly  disciplined  and 
pow'erful  minds,  which  are  to  be  found  alone  in  the  class  of  edu- 
cated men,  are  especially  needed  to  take  the  direction  and  guid- 
ance of  these  movements.  We  have  been  pained  by  too  much  that 
is  misguided  in  aim,  wrong  in  means,  unhappy  in  spirit  and  futile 
or  capricious  in  result,  not  to  be  deeply  impressed  with  the  convic- 
tion, that  the  reforming  spirit  of  the  times,  needs  to  be  informed  and 
guided  by  a profound  and  comprehensive  knowledge  of  man,  and 
of  the  nature  and  influence  of  existing  institutions,  or  however  good 


38 

its  intentions,  it  will  be  likely,  nay,  certain  to  produce  disaster 
and  ruin,  rather  than  amelioration  and  beneficial  change  ; and 
hence  we  hold  that  no  period  in  the  progress  of  man,  so  imperatively 
demands  the  lights  of  enlarged  experience  and  tlie  practical  know- 
ledge wliich  is  gathered  from  a wide  and  careful  survey  of  the 
actual  results  of  principles  and  institutiqns  affecting  human  society, 
as  the  present.  Thus  furnished,  the  individual  will  be  prepared 
to  accomplish  incalculable  good  through  the  reforms  which  have 
already  been  put  in  motion,  and  are  steadily  advancing,  we  are 
fain  to  hope,  (whatever  appearances,  at  any  time,  to  the  contrary,) 
to  the  consummation  of  their  philanthropic  purposes.  If  a genu- 
ine reform  consists  in  the  dislodgement  from  the  public  mind  of 
some  pernicious  error,  and  the  consequent  removal  from  society  of 
the  practical  evils  growing  out  of  it,  and  the  substitution  in  its 
stead,  of  a valuable  truth,  with  its  necessary  blessings,  then  we 
hold  that  the  distinguishing  reforms  of  the  day  are  genuine,  and 
claim  the  earnest  advocacy  and  zealous  co-operation,  both  by  pre- 
cept and  example,  of  those  who  are  sincerely  aiming  at  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  race  in  all  that  dignifies,  exalts  and  makes  happy 
human  beings.  Their  aim  is  the  overthrow  of  giant  and  hoary 
errors,  which  have  long  bestridden,  like  the  nightmare,  the  breast 
of  prostrate  humanity,  paralyzing  its  immortal  energies,  and  ‘ freez- 
ing the  genial  current  of  its  soul.’  Who  can  deny  that  when 
these  reforms  shall  have  reached  the  consummation  of  their  bene- 
volent purposes, — when  the  relentless  moloch  of  intemperance,  and 
the  foul  spirit  of  fleshly  impurity,  and  the  fierce  demon  of  oppres- 
sion shall  have  been  driven,  with  all  their  direful  train,  from  the 
earth,  which  they  have  so  long  cursed,  mankind  shall  not  only  be 
immeasurably  advanced  on  the  shining  way  of  ascending  excel- 
lence, but  in  a condition,  with  their  accumulated  and  continually 
accumulating  resources,  to  move  on  at  any  inconcievably  increas- 
ed rate.  We  take  it  for  granted,  in  this  view,  that  the  reforms 
shall  be  so  conducted  to  their  ultimate  triumph,  as  that  no  other 
evils  shall  spring  up  in  their  track  to  take  the  place  and  sceptre  of 
those  which  have  been  dethroned  and  banished.  One  of  the  most 


39 


important  services  to  be  rendered  to  these  reforms,  is  such  an  en- 
lightened and  judicious  direction  of  them  as  shall  keep  them  to 
their  main  purpose,  and  prevent  them  from  destroying  what  is  good 
in  the  attempt  to  remove  the  evil  interwoven  with  it  ; and  on  the 
other,  from  originating  a positive  mischief  by  the  means  used  to  ad- 
vance them.  A great  work  has  been  performed  for  mankind  when 
a false  principle  or  custom  has  been  disentangled  from  its  associa- 
tions, and  held  up  to  their  view  in  its  naked  and  essential  ugliness, 
to  excite  their  disgust  and  abhorrence,  and  so  effect  its  indignant 
repudiation.  The  mission  of  a true  reform  is  not  to  kill  and  de- 
stroy aught  save  error  and  iniquity.  It  is  not  fearfully  destructive, 
but  beneficially  conservative,  separating  the  precious  from  the  vile, 
carefully  guarding  and  fostering  the  former  while  it  deals  deadly 
blows  upon  the  latter.  A great  truth  is  really  the  animating  prin- 
ciple 'of  every  true  reform,  and  the  overthrow  of  some  great  and 
pernicious  error  its  legitimate  object ; and  this  fact  suggests  the 
vital  importance  of  using  truth  alone  as  the  appropriate  instrumen- 
tality in  carrying  forward  reforming  enterprizes.  He  who  avails 
himself  of  a falsehood  or  an  erroneous  principle,  to  promote  even 
the  best  of  enterprizes,  will  find  in  the  end  that  he  has  taken  hold 
of  a two-edged  weapon,  the  rebound  of  whose  stroke  shall  send  the 
backward  edge  through  his  own  heart,  and  pierce  the  vitals  of  the 
cause  itself. 

Let  me  admonish  you,  gentlemen,  to  honor  the  truth  above  all 
things  else  in  God’s  universe,  except  the  great  Fountain  of  truth 
itself.  Indignantly  repudiate,  under  all  circumstances,  the  prof- 
fered services  of  a lie,  if  it  promise  never  so  great  results  for  good. 
So  deeply  do  I feel  upon  this  subject,  that  I would  not  consciously 
employ  and  honor  a great  lie,  if  I knew  that  by  its  instrumentality 
I could  break  every  chain,  and  dethrone  every  tyrant,  and  dash  the 
cup  of  dissipation  from  every  lip,  and  make  men  as  pure  and  chaste 
as  the  angels  of  heaven.  I should  be  sure  that  the  expelled  evil 
would  return  again  with  seven  spirits  worse  than  itself,  to  take  up 
its  abode  and  to  dwell  in  the  mind  garnished  alone  with  the  trap- 
pings of  falsehood.  No  change  will  prove  permanently  beneficial 


40 

to  man  that  does  not  tend  to  the  instauration  of  the  reign  of  truth 
in  the  world.  The  praise  of  the  age,  is  that  it  is  the  age  of  benev- 
olence, and  many  sanguine  philanthropists  think  we  are  on  the  eve 
of  the  mellenium,  because  then  the  reign  of  benevolence  is  to  be 
universal ; but  inspiration  represents  this  promised  period  as  mark- 
ing the  triumph  and  reign  of  truth  and  righteousness  ; not  that  there 
is  any  real  incompatability  between  truth  and  genuine  benevolence. 
There  is  not ; but  the  former  is  paramount  and  comprehensive  of 
the  latter.  It  is  the  sun  of  the  moral  world,  while  benevolence  is 
the  radiant  emanation  of  his  life-giving,  health-infusing  and  joy- 
inspiring  beams.  Coleridge  has  a strong  remark  pertinent  to  this 
view : “ He  who  begins  by  loving  Christianity  better  than  truth, 
will  proceed  by  loving  his  own  sect  or  church  better  than  Christi- 
anity, and  end  in  loving  himself  better  than  all.”  We  would  not 
understand  the  Christian  philosopher  here  as  setting  the  truth  in 
opposition  to  Christianity.  Christianity  is  the  embodiment  of  the 
highest  and  holiest  truth ; but  if  we  love  it  for  other  reasons  than 
that  it  is  the  truth,  our  love  is  not  of  the  right  kind,  and  will  tend 
to  our  moral  degeneracy.  No,  gentlemen,  you  cannot  hope  to  do 
permanent  good  to  your  race,  except  through  the  instrumentality  of 
truth  in  some  of  its  forms  and  modifications. 

But  the  reforms  alluded  to  are  not  the  only  means  of  improving 
man’s  condition.  He  whose  earnest  soul  has  conceived,  and  felt 
the  inspiration  of,  the  sublime  idea  of  great  and  permanent  good  to 
his  race,  will  find  a thousand  ways  by  which  the  end  may  be  pro- 
moted. “This  is  a day,”  it  has  been  remarked,  “of  wondrous 
opportunities  and  awful  advantages  for  promoting  the  highest  inter- 
ests and  happiness  of  man;”  and  for  the  improvement  of  these  ad- 
vantages, no  position  is  more  favorable  than  that  of  a citizen  of  this 
country.  We  are  in  little  danger,  in  my  opinion,  of  an  over-esti- 
mate of  the  advantages,  material,  civil  and  religious,  which  our 
country  possesses.  They  have  never  yet  been  fully  comprehended 
and  adequately  celebrated.  The  statesman  in  the  widest  scope  of 
his  comprehension,  the  orator  in  the  loftiest  flights  of  his  enthusiasm, 
the  poet  in  the  extatic  trance  of  his  inspiration,  never  yet  formed  a 


41 

suitable  conception  of  what  a munificent  Heaven  has  done  for  this 
goodly  land,  and  the  happy  people  who  dwell  therein.  O,  what  a 
broad,  free,  commanding  theatre  for  the  play  of  the  mightiest  ener- 
gies of  man  in  evolving  the  resources  of  nature  and  of  himself,  and 
applying  them  to  the  purposes  of  progress  and  culture,  is  this  na- 
tion with  her  magnificent  and  inexhaustibly  rich  domain,  her  glori- 
ous institutions,  and  her  continental  position ! 

Every  thing,  too,  is  full  of  young  life,  mantling  vigor,  and  daring 
enterprise.  Wonderful  as  are  the  discoveries,  inventions,  and  im- 
provements already  made,  there  seems  no  exhaustion  of  capabili- 
ties and  resources,  but  countless  bursting  germs  every  where  to  be 
seen,  and  new  energies  whose  scope  and  sway  in  their  full  devel- 
opement  no  mind  can  yet  anticipate  and  grasp,  just  beginning  to 
stir  and  heave  the  great  social  mass  at  a thousand  different  points, 
promise  an  expansion  and  growth  of  all  the  elements  of  social  pros- 
perity and  happiness  which  will  be  to  the  present  as  the  noon-tide 
blaze  to  the  grey  streaks  of  the  early  dawn.  Our  country,  with 
all  these  advantages,  if  true  to  herself,  will  exert  a controlling  in- 
fluence upon  the  destines  of  the  whole  race.  Her  territorial  posi- 
tion gives  her  access  to  the  world  in  every  direction.  China  will 
soon  be  as  much  her  neighbor  on  the  west  as  Europe  is  on  the 
east,  and  she  will  then  roll  a tide  of  influences  across  the  Pacific 
to  break  upon  the  hoary  institutions  of  the  Celestial  Empire,  and 
pour  the  renovating  streams  of  Christian  civilization  through  all  the 
crevices  of  her  vast  and  decaying  social  fabric.  She  has  long  been 
sending  such  a tide  across  the  Atlantic,  and  we  have  beheld  a part 
of  the  result  in  the  recent  condition  of  European  society,  lashed 
into  a stormy  sea  on  whose  raging  billows,  thrones,  and  dynasties, 
and  antiquated  institutions  were  tossing  like  the  fragments  of  a 
fearful  wreck. 

The  probable  universality  of  the  English  language,  through  the 
spirit  and  agency  of  missions  and  of  commerce,  presents  a vastly 
extended  system  of  means  for  benefitting  the  race.  No  language 

6 


42 

upon  earth,  dead  or  living,  is  so  rich  in  the  elements  of  a pure 
religion  and  of  rational  liberty,  and  of  progress  in  all  that  is  en- 
nobling to  our  nature.  Through  this  agency  we  may  deposit  these 
elements  upon  every  shore,  and  in  the  bosom  of  every  society. 

O,  gentlemen,  what  a privilege  it  is  ta  live  in  this  age,  and  in 
this  country,  and  to  be  young  men  enjoying  all  the  advantages  of 
high  intellectual  and  moral  culture.  My  soul  swells  with  the 
thought  of  the  immense  good  which  may  be  accomplished  in  their 
generation,  by  those  whom  I am  addressing,  when  they  shall  have 
left  the  consecrated  halls  and  shades  of  their  Alma  Mater,  to  min- 
gle  with  the  great  realities  and  activities  of  this  wonderful  age. 
God  grant  that  they  may  go  forth  with  their  minds  expanding  with 
just  conceptions  of  the  true  purpose  of  their  existence,  and  their 
hearts  swelling  and  throbbing  with  noble  and  generous  impulses, 
resolved  that  by  God’s  help  they  will  be  angels  of  mercy,  and  not 
ministers  of  wrath  to  their  suffering  race,  and  leave  the  world 
wiser  and  better  when  they  shall  be  summoned  away  to  give  an 
account  of  their  stewardship.  O,  let  them  remember  they  have 
immortal  materials  out  of  which  to  elaborate  a perfection  which 
shall  not  only  enrapture  angels,  but  attract  the  complacency  and 
praise  of  the  Eternal  and  All-perfect  Mind. 


